Writers' Union building Infrastructure

The former Benjamin House in Riga, Krišjāņa Barona Street 12, was home to the creative professions' organizations - the Writers' Union of the Latvian SSR, the Artists' Union and the Composers' Union - during the Revival. In 1988, the Writers' Union, in cooperation with other creative unions, formed a center around which forces that advocated the continuation of the course of perestroika, democratization and the defense of Latvian national interests gathered. The Writers' Union acted as a kind of mediator between the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia and society. On March 10, 1988, the Writers' Union established the Literary Memorial Commission for Victims of the Personality Cult and the Rehabilitation Commission. On March 25, in memory of the victims of Stalinist deportations, for the first time, the creative unions of writers, artists, musicians, architects, theater and film workers officially laid flowers at the statue of Mother Latvia at the Brothers' Cemetery.

The Writers' Union played a leading role in organizing the Plenum of the Creative Unions held on June 1-2, 1988. In the summer of 1988, the Latvian Popular Front began to form under the auspices of the Artists' Union. The LTF Coordination Center operated in the Writers' Union building and preparations were made for the 1st LTF Congress. After the establishment of the LTF, it took over the role of coordinating the political opposition, however, the role of writers and other intellectual professions, and therefore also creative unions, in the Awakening processes did not diminish. Today, a commemorative plaque with the LTF symbolism and the inscription is installed at the main entrance of the Benjamin House: “On July 29, 1988, the Latvian Popular Front Organizing Committee began work in this building. The largest and most united people's movement in the history of Latvia, which restored the independence of the state of Latvia, was born here.”