Demand for REALLY big flag

Take note – story published 10 years and 1 month ago

A society with the name "Latvian flag" has been formed for the purposes of - unsurprisingly perhaps - putting a Latvian flag in a prominent position in central Riga to celebrate Latvia's centenary in 2018, reports LSM's Latvian service

What is noteworthy is the size of the proposed pennant - organizers of the flag-waving drive say they want a flag measuring 20 meters by 10 flapping on its pole a good 60 meters above the River Daugava, which would make it big enough to remove any lingering doubts about their destination for passengers landing at Riga International Airport.

Supporters of the project are named as skeleton coach Dainis Dukurs, opera singer Inese Galante and sportswoman Jelena Prokopčuka among other prominent figures. 

"We have received support and encouragement from countless members of the Latvian public," one of the initiators of the idea, Rihards Kols, said.

"We have been contacted by people from all over Latvia, with people taking an interest in whether such monumental flags could also be placed in their cities," Kols added. 

"I think that the current political situation obliges us to bring honor to our national symbol of Latvian national flag, to show that Latvia is an independent and indivisible country with its own unique language, culture and traditions," said skeleton coach Dainis Dukurs, father of Latvia's medal-machine brothers Martins and Tomass Dukurs.

It is not the first time that one of the proposed sites of the project, on the thin spit of land called AB Dambis, opposite the historic skyline of Riga's Old Town, has been associated with monumental works of patriotism.

In the Soviet era, Latvia's renowned Constructivist artist Gustavs Klucis was commissioned to design a monument on the same site that would have sent beams of light and blasts of sound high into the night sky in praise of socialist revolution.

The project was never realized.

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