Monument "Dedication to the Latvian Provisional National Council"
Memorial site
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The monument “Dedication to the Latvian Provisional National Council” is located in Valka at the intersection of Rīgas and Raina streets (address Raina street 9A).
The monument was unveiled on December 2, 2017, as part of Latvia's centennial program, in honor of the meeting of the Latvian Provisional National Council in 1917.
The author of the ensemble idea is the sculptor Arta Dumpe, the stonemason – Ivars Feldbergs, the architectural planning was carried out by SIA "Architectural Office Vecumnieks & Bērziņi".
The base of the monument is formed by a large millstone – like a circle of life, time and events. The names of the LPNP board members are engraved on its sides. From the millstone, like the paths of fate, three regions – Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale with their historical coats of arms – rise up into the sky. The composition is concluded by the Bethlehem star, which transforms into the sun of the new Latvian state. Latvian poet, prose writer and politician Kārlis Skalbe /1879-1945/ wrote: “Latvia also had its own Bethlehem, little poor Valka...”.
The monument to the Latvian Provisional National Council is a kind of debt repayment to the people who, risking their lives in Valka in 1917, guided by ideals, laid the foundations of the Latvian state in a virtually impossible situation.
At that time, Valka was the city with the largest Latvian population in the territory not yet occupied by Germany. After the fall of Riga, it became the center of Latvian social, political and cultural life. Those who were united by the desire to implement the right of self-determination of the Latvian nation gathered here. From November 29 to December 2, 1917 (according to the new style), the 1st session of the Latvian Provisional National Council was held in the Valka City Hall (now the building at Kesk Street No. 11 in Valga), in which representatives of almost all the most influential Latvian public organizations and political parties participated. For the first time, they officially declared the goal of their activities - the creation of an independent national state, and adopted a declaration on the creation of a united and autonomous Latvia in the Latvian districts of Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale.
Used sources and references:
http://visit.valka.lv
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