Monument of Red Riflemen | Strēlnieku piemineklis

Cold stone monuments can become sources of very heated emotional responses, especially if you live in a society which is divided in it's perception of history and where monuments created by different powers and with different ideological backgrounds co-exist together. Latvia and especially Riga fits to these characteristics perfectly. While Liberty monument (lower picture) is devoted to Latvia's Independence, monument to Red Riflemen (upper photo) was erected in Soviet times (1971) and it's honouring Latvian riflemen who protected (i.e., massacred opponents) Lenin and his Socialistic revolution. These photos shows how so different monuments can live together in one city, and as a proof that they're really in one city, you can see the unifying element - spire of St Peter's church in both photos.