Latvia may be one of the poorest countries in the European Union, but Riga, its capital, is considered by some to be the most cosmopolitan city in the ex-Soviet Baltic States. Its upscale shops, new museums, modern hotels and restaurants, show only traces of the Soviet past.
As far back as the time of Latvia’s first independence in 1919, the importance of the arts was seen through the creation of a system of state museums and an Academy of Fine Arts to foster the Latvian school of painting. Entrepreneurs here are again learning that new ideas can make money and Riga's cultural institutions are looking to break out from the past. Today Riga's curators are planning the construction of a contemporary art museum, and Riga's opera company is widely acknowledged as one of the best in the former Eastern Bloc.
The opera house is a fine metaphor for the new Riga, standing on parkland that divides the two halves of the city: the old-world Old Town and the newer section that grew up outside the walls of the old fortress in the 19th century. The theater has been restored to its 1863 splendor, while modern additions have expanded rehearsal space and offices. The whole thing has been run for the last 10 years by a charismatic general director who presents cutting-edge young directors and singers from beyond Latvia's borders.
In the State Museum of Art, all of the artists are Latvian. There are striking works by Jazeps Grosvalds, who helped create the Riga Artists Group before his death in 1920, and Aleksandra Belcova, who is known to combine the styles of Cubism and Russian Constructivism in her portraits. The Arsenal, a hip exhibition space in the Old Town that's part of the state museum network, recently mounted the first-ever retrospective of Latvian art after World War II.
As Culture Minister Helena Demakova’s plans include the construction of the National Library, to be designed by the Latvian expatriate architect Gunnar Birkerts, and a concert hall to replace the somewhat run down Great Guild Hall where the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra performs, Latvian society will continue to redefine its identity through the arts.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
October 29, 2006
© Copyright
2005 http//www.sunshineestates.net
Property
Search
Property
News Homepage
