Latvian Riflemen Monument, Riga

The Red Riflemen Monument is another impressive monument and also a very controversal!

The monument was built in 1970, to honor the Latvian red Riflemen who guarded Lenin during the Russian Revolution of 1917.
It is one of the few Communist symbols left in Riga and not everybody is happy to see it still standing today!
Why, Well, some say it is a symbol of the old Communist system.

There is a joke that people in Riga used to tell about this memorial:
"They said that the three men, looking so stalwartly out into the distance, were actually waiting for the fourth man to arrive with the bottle!"

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Just outside the main square of Ratslaukums is the somewhat controversial statue to the Latvian Red Riflemen. As you might be able to tell from the reference to Red, and the sharp contours of the socialist realist style, this is a monument built to celebrate Soviet heroes. But the riflemen were Latvian, and defended the country from invasion by Germans. And therein lies the controversy. Some see them as part of a Soviet history they hate and want the monument torn down, and some see them as Latvian heroes.

For now the monument remains.

Behind the Museum of occupation is the big red statue of the Latvian Riflemen. It was erected in 1970, but there has now been talk to replace it with something else. The Latvian riflemen were regiments fighting in the Russian Imperial Army. When the Russian revolution started many of the soldiers chose to support the Bolsheviks, but some fought for Latvian independence in the war. The riflemen were known as the Latvian Red Riflemen during the Soviet occupation and they were palace guards for Lenin.

Latvian Riflemen Monument

This is THE place to meet people in Riga. The Taxis stop here and it is very near the House of the Blackheads.

Historical note: The statue is a Communist/Soviet Union commemoration of the Latvian Red Riflemen who supported the Russian Revolution (1917) and fought on the side of the Bolsheviks in World War I. Some of these same riflemen actually formed part of Lenin’s personal bodyguard. It’s now a bit of a Soviet Relic.

Standing on one of the main suqares in central Riga, this statue is one of many symbols for the troublesome ties between the russian and latvian nation. The eight riflemen shown here represent eight regiments fighting in WWI against the russian imperial army. After WWI, the October revolution took place in Russia and these units fought on the side of the russian communists. Later, during the latvian independence war, some of them changed their side and fought for Latvia against now communist Russia.

In the centre of the old city in Riga, you’ll find the Latvian Riflemen Monument (Strçlnieku piemineklis).

It is a controversial statue because many people in Riga think the monument is a symbol of the old communist system – but others believe it is a tribute to the Latvian who fought in the World War I.

As the name said, the monument shows the Latvian Riflemen, which were a division of nearly 40000 men who fought in the Russian army against the Germans in World War I.

Later some of the Riflemen became Lenin’s personal bodyguards.

The controversial Latvian Riflemen statue is a monument to marksmen fighting in the Russian imperial army during WWI, some of which went on to support the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution and were Lenin's personal bodyguards.

Located at Latviesu Strelnieku laukums (Latvian Riflemen Square) you will find these three riflemen on duty. The riflemen statue is a tribute to the team that served as bodyguards of Lenin and as members of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.