Riga Congress Center Infrastructure

The Congress Hall (at that time the Political Education Hall of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia) was one of the few meeting rooms in Riga where a larger number of people could gather. During the revival, a variety of events were held there - congresses of the Latvian Popular Front, founding events for various public organizations, discussions on history, etc. On June 1-2, 1988, an expanded plenum of the board of the Latvian Writers' Union was held here with the participation of other creative unions, to which the leadership of the Latvian SSR was invited. Many painful problems were discussed, but the effect of a bombshell was created by the speech of the well-known political commentator and 1940s activist Mavriks Vulfsons, in which he declared that there had been no socialist revolution in Latvia in 1940.

On June 14, 1988, a rally was held in memory of the victims of mass deportations at the Congress House. It was the first officially authorized rally, at which both officials (for example, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party Anatolijs Gorbunovs) and representatives of the public (journalists Andrejs Cīrulis, Edvīns Inkēns, a representative of the Environmental Protection Club Valdis Turins, a priest Juris Rubenis, dissident Eduards Berklavs, etc.) spoke. The rally ended with a march to the Freedom Monument. During the march, Konstantīns Pupurs carried the Latvian flag. Many posters at the rally were quite radical, for example, "No — to the histories of Drīzulis and Karaļuns", "No to the kangaroo Voss of our day!" Modris Lujāns held a poster on which were pasted photos of Stalin and Ribbentrop with the caption "Curse on the murderers of the people" and photos of August Voss and other leaders of the Latvian Communist Party with the caption "No to the kangaroos!" A few days later, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party, First Secretary Boriss Pugo condemned certain individuals and groups who “under the guise of reorganization tried to give the rally a distinctly nationalistic, provocative orientation.” A criminal case was initiated against M. Lujāns, but on September 30 the Supreme Court of the Latvian SSR fully acquitted him.

The next turning point in Latvian history was the 1st Congress of the Latvian Popular Front on October 8-9, 1988, which was also held at the Congress House. On December 10-11, the Forum of the Peoples of the Latvian SSR was also held here.