Grizinkalna parks description and photos - Latvia: Riga (Topic)

Grizinkalna parks description and photos - Latvia: Riga. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Grizinkalna parks.

Photo and description

Grizinkalns Park is located in the historical district of the same name in Riga. The park was organized on the sand dunes from 1901 to 1911. The architect of the park was the famous master of park art Georg Friedrich Kufaldt, who at that time was responsible for the landscaping of the city. The area of the park is just over 10 hectares, the highest point is at an altitude of 24 meters above sea level.

The decision to lay the park was made by the rulers of the city back in 1885, but real actions began only at the beginning of the last century. The brewer Fritz Schindler undertook to build a restaurant, a summer theater, a dance floor, and a cafe at the park's highest point with an observation tower in three months. However, of all of the above, by the end of 1911, only the stage appeared, where free concerts were held 2 times a week. Schindler adapted his pavilion to the restaurant from the exhibition dedicated to the seven hundredth anniversary of Riga.

The most famous events associated with the park took place from 2 to 4 November 1905. Then about 100 thousand workers from all over Russia gathered for the rally in Grizinkalns park. Later, in honor of this event, the park was renamed the 1905 park. Moreover, this rally was not the only one, but only the largest. During the 1905 revolutions, the park became the center of mass protests. In the period from 1905 to 1908. the theater "Apollo" operated in the park, on the stage of which famous actors played at that time.

The initial arrangement of the park was completed by 1911. But in 1917, when the troops of Tsarist Russia were leaving Riga, the park buildings were burned down. Only the gardener's house, built in 1903, remained intact, which, incidentally, has survived to this day.

After these events, the improvement of the park, completed by 1930, was carried out under the leadership of A. Zeydaks. Then the park acquired a terraced layout. The main role in this layout was played by the terraced steps of the central staircase. At the same time, a playground, a swimming pool and a decorative sculpture "Lutausis" (sculptor M. Schmalcs) were installed. The summer stage, which took its place on the top of the hill, later burned down and was demolished. In 1930, it was decided to rename the Grizinkalns park to the park of 1905.

During the Second World War, the park was overgrown and abandoned again. It was possible to put it in order only by the end of the 1940s. In 1949 under the hill on which the park was located, a top-secret military facility was built. The built bunker, in case of war, would become a reserve headquarters. The headquarters bunker could be accessed through an underground passage from a nearby military unit.

In 1975, a monument dedicated to the revolutionaries of 1905 was erected at the entrance to the park. Master V. Albergs became the sculptor of the monument. The monument is made of yellowish calcareous tuff, carved from blocks of Staburags cliff on the Daugava River. This cliff was flooded by the Plavinas HPP reservoir in 1966. It is not known how the blocks were carved out of the cliff, necessary for work.

16 local species and 62 imported tree and shrub species grow in Grizinkalns Park. In 2003, the largest skatepark in the capital was opened in the park. At the disposal of fans of extreme sports about 6,000 sq. M. there is an asphalt area, small structures and slides for training, as well as an indoor field where you can improve your skills during bad weather. During the winter months, there is a public ice rink and various competitions.

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Topic: Grizinkalna parks description and photos - Latvia: Riga.