The story of Freedom Monument

On 14 June 1987, about 5,000 people came to this monument to lay flowers, and that gathering renewed the independence movement which, three years later, saw Latvian sovereignty restored. The Freedom Monument honours the soldiers killed in the Latvian War of Independence of 1918–1920. Unveiled in 1935, it rises 42 metres in granite, travertine and copper, and it was paid for by private donations.

Its design, called "Shine like a star!", came from the sculptor Kārlis Zāle. Look up to the top of the 19-metre travertine column: the copper figure of Liberty lifts three gilded stars. Locals affectionately call her Milda; a Lithuanian author claimed the model was a woman of that name who lived in Riga, though the Riga Monument Agency says no records support this.

After 1940 the Soviet authorities considered demolishing the monument, and the question came up again in 1963, but it survived. Below, thirteen groups of sculptures and reliefs tell Latvia's culture and history.