Honourable Madam Director!
Honourable Riga City Council Elder!
Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture!
Dear Museum Family!
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be with you on the occasion of the 250th birthday of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation.
I think we can all safely say that the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation is the custodian of the identity of the capital of Latvia. For 250 years it has been collecting, documenting and promoting both tangible and intangible cultural values and traditions.
It is the oldest museum in the Baltics and in fact one of the oldest public museums in Europe. But there is one more thing I would like to mention in particular: it is the older brother of the museums of two great European metropolises, Paris and London. The Paris Museum was founded in 1880, the London Museum in 1826. Museum staff have the opportunity to remind this fact tourists and their counterparts in the UK and France.
Today, I would like to highlight the most important thing about the anniversary of this museum. This excellence would not have been possible without the people who created this museum, who have devoted their lives to it, who have worked and nurtured its tradition. To mention just a few examples.
Nikolaus von Himsel, a Riga doctor of Baltic German descent, who, having been educated in Europe, built up a unique collection which he bequeathed to Riga. He was convinced that there would be people who would take care of his legacy and know how to put it to use, would be able to create a museum where people could further their education.
Anton Buchholz, lawyer and numismatist, whose collection of coins from the second half of the 19th century completes the museum's now so-called "gold fund".
In a way, this museum has also served as a refuge for the so-called "wrong people" – those who, in times of political censorship, were concerned about preserving cultural heritage. You also served as a link to the Latvian intelligentsia and cultural life of interwar Latvia, and in your own way you tried to undermine the ideological standards of the Soviet occupation.
People worth remembering today, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary:
- Rudolfs Šīrants (1910-1985), historian and archivist who after being expelled from the Riga City Archives "escaped" here, and it was here that the catalogue of 300 years of maps and plans of Riga was compiled;
- Mērija Grīnberga (1909-1975), who is now known to the public as the German bearer of treasures from Latvian museums, and who did her translation work here;
- Kurt Friedrichson (1911-1991), artist, "member of the French group". After his return from imprisonment in Siberia, he designed the first modern museum exhibition here;
- I would also like to mention Līvija Blūmfelde (1929-2016), who, rising from department head to museum director and working in the most oppressive times of political censorship, laid the foundations for the museum's scientific research;
- Finally, your long-standing Director, Klāra Radziņa (1942-2021). She is a personality – a legend both among museum professionals and throughout Latvia. She had to work through the "turns of the era", but she had no obstacles, barriers or authorities to yield to when it came to fighting for the museum.
All ancient buildings have their own stories and legends. The Riga Museum has them too. The museum was once housed in the Anatomy Museum, within the ancient walls of the Riga Cathedral. But here, in the Hall of Columns, which once served as the monks' dining hall, the Red Cardinal occasionally gives a sign - an open window, a rearranged display case or simply a benevolent hint. It is said to remain friendly and supportive to the people of the museum, especially newcomers.
Today, as we look back on 250 years of the museum's work, remember those people who have helped the museum to grow and develop and thank all of you who work at the museum today, I would like to wish all the staff of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation (regardless of position or seniority) to hold high the achievements of their predecessors.
May you have a lot of ambitious plans! Keep on exploring and educating our people in the same creative way! And, of course, I wish you to remain in the good graces of the Red Cardinal!
