The Latvian War Museum is a military museum in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The Latvian War Museum located in the Powder Tower in Old Riga is the largest military history museum in Latvia with a large and impressive collection.
The Latvian War Museum was established on October 15, 1916 as the Latvian Rifle Battalion Museum. Initially the museum had its premises in TÄ“rbatas Street 1/3. The museum collected material relating to Latvian fusiliers and the First World War. In 1917, when Riga was bombed, the museum was evacuated. In June 1919 the museum resumed operations at the Powder Tower in Riga's old town. The museum opened to the public in June 1921.
In 1936 the government acquired the neighboring land. The construction of a new museum building was started in 1937, according to a project by the architect ArtÅ«rs Galindoms. The internal works were also designed by the architect R. Legzdiņš. All of the museum's artifacts have been temporarily stored at the museum's workshop on Torņa Street.
The new museum building was finished in the summer of 1940, but the museum failed to organize exhibitions prior to the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940. The Latvian War Museum fell under the jurisdiction of the Latvian People's Army liquidation commission, who handed over the museum artifacts to the People's Commissariat for Education and they were stored at the former Riga Stock Exchange building; and the museum premises were handed over to the Red Army.
On January 15, 1941, the Latvian War Museum ceased to exist. Starting in 1945, the building housed the Riga Nakhimov Naval School and continued to house it until 1953.
From 1957 to 1990 the premises were occupied by the Latvian SSR Revolution Museum, which interpreted the Latvian history of the twentieth century from the point of view of Soviet ideology. However, during its existence the museum had collected valuable representative Soviet artifacts for its collections.
On 11 June 1990 the government of Latvia restored the Latvian War Museum.
The museum's aim is to reveal Latvia's military and political history to the public. The museum's collection has more than 25,400 objects that are systematized into individual collections and chronological exhibits, with a large number of documents, orders, weapons, photos, uniforms and other items.
Latvian War Museum
Address: Smila¡u iela 20, Centra rajons, 1050 Riga Lettonia
Phone: +371 67 228 147
Site:
http://www.karamuzejs.lv/Location inserted by
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