Although the Freedom Monument is impressive on the outside with its symbolism, the inside is mainly practical and technical, designed for the maintenance and stability of the structure. Tours inside the monument have not been organized for many years, mostly due to various security reasons.
The door of the Freedom Monument, which is behind the monument, is locked with a large key. The first and only thing you enter is a small technical room, where a large red book of honor or guest book, depicting the three stars of the Liberty Monument, sits on a stone platform. And from that room, you can go up a narrow metal staircase that winds up almost 40 meters - to a place where, under the feet of the monument, you have a unique view of Riga through two portholes.
As you go up the stairs, the steps get wetter with each floor, which seems to suggest that this is not a good thing, but those responsible for the monument have pointed out that this is as it should be.
To date, there is no publicly available information about significant problems or damage to the Freedom Monument. The Monument is regularly maintained and inspected to ensure its longevity and safety. The Riga Monuments Agency also acknowledged that the condition of the Freedom Monument is currently good.
For the 21st year, the insurance company "BTA" has presented the Riga Municipality with an insurance policy for the Freedom Monument. The idea was born a long time ago and the reasoning is simple: the Latvian company wanted to support the insurance of the Freedom Monument and wanted to give it as a donation. Traditionally, the insurance policy is given during the week of the independence day.
The amount of the insurance policy this year and in other years is EUR 1.5 million. The amount is roughly based on what it would cost to restore the Freedom Monument. It is the same every year.
Evija Matveja, a member of the BTA Insurance Board, said: "It is a property insurance policy with the main risks - fire, storm damage, and also third party vandalism or any other damage to the monument. In all these 21 years, there have been three occasions [when the insurance policy has been used] and the amounts are small. The biggest cases were related to foreign tourists, where they carried out activities at the monument, as a result of which we, together with the association that maintains the monument, had to further restore it, and we then covered the costs of this restoration. In any case, we ourselves have come to the conclusion that the monument is now much safer because it is also guarded."
Many years ago, the monument had to deal with so-called "pissing tourists" on several occasions, i.e. when tourists took care of nature's call at the Freedom Monument.
However, the Deputy Mayor of Riga, Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance), stressed that in recent years, apart from the above-mentioned incidents, the Freedom Monument has not been involved in similar situations, which can also be justified by the fact that for several years the monument has been continuously guarded and its security maintained.
"Of course, the maintenance of the Freedom Monument is a very responsible undertaking. The Freedom Monument also has support from the state in terms of maintenance. But every day there is cleaning, every day there is monitoring, and there is always the municipal police here to keep an eye on everything. Of course, it is work, but it is the pride of our nation and we are happy to do it," said Ratnieks.
