Green Garden of Souls / Day

Riga Great Cemetery was established in 1773, the first burial was made here on May 7th, and in the following years all three newly established cemeteries – St. Jacob’s parish cemeteries, Pokrov cemeteries and the cemeteries of the City’s parishes – gradually expanding, merged into a single whole. This is how the cemetery, which today we call the Great Cemetery, was formed. The 20th century turned out to be particularly unsuccessful for it, when during the Soviet occupation, approximately 90% of the burials were destroyed, many family chapels were demolished, the current Senču Street was built across the territory of the cemetery, and a heat line highway was built.

“The Riga Great Cemetery is special in the cultural history of Latvia – the originators of the idea of ​​our nation’s self-determination, writers, politicians, actors, economists, scientists, musicians, whose names the Soviet government tried to erase from public consciousness, are buried here. However, the burials of some historical figures have been preserved here – even today. we can see, for example, the graves of Andrejs Pumpuras, Krišjānis Barons, Kristaps Bergs and many other personalities important to the history of Latvia,” in the book The big cemetery in Riga says its author Juris Millers. Undeniably, one of the reasons for the destruction of the cemetery was also the fact that the brightest representatives of the Baltic German community of Latvia rested here, whose mention during the Soviet occupation was absolutely undesirable.

On the other hand, the National Encyclopedia emphasizes that the Great Cemetery in Riga is an important historical monument – the graves where many prominent public figures, founders of the Latvian Society of Riga, businessmen, artists, and politicians are buried.

During the Soviet occupation, cemeteries were deliberately destroyed, making them easily accessible quarries for precious materials, and later also a source of metal.