Not too long ago, an unfinished build stood next to the Rīga East Clinical Hospital (RAKUS), or so-called Gaiļezers Hospital. This shell of a building had been there for over 30 years and now was up for demolition. Locals had asked the construction workers to look for the time capsule placed in the building's foundation 36 years ago.
Workers kept the fact about the capsule in mind and finally found it on March 31 -- about three meters deep between piles and concrete.
The workers had hoped that a newspaper or coin of that time would be in the capsule, but there was nothing like it. Just a carefully written message as well as a bit of information with the technical details of the building.
The message is in Russian and states: “Today, February 22, 1988, the first stone has been laid for a unique building, a new maternity home.” It is also promised that the new generation will be born in a modern, new, and light building from now on.
Technical data indicates that the house is intended for 240 mothers, with six million Soviet rubles to be spent on its construction.
The building had to be ready no later than three years after construction began. Just a few years later, an Article appeared in the press on April 1, 1992, “who needs that maternity home.” For more than 30 years, the unfinished structure gradually turned into a slum. Sergejs Jakovļevs, under whose direction the building was demolished, said the fixture was rusty in many places. He promises to bring the capsule the message to the museum.
There's been a lot of discussion about what's going to stand in place of the slum, but there's still no clarity. It is mentioned that an office or apartment building or a medical center could be built next to the hospital.
