Happy birthday, Herder! Rīga marked the 280th anniversary of one of its most famous former short term residents with a public commemoration. But who exactly was Johann Gottfried Herder and what is the nature of his association with the city that bears his name on one of its squares?
Ārpus ētera
Immanuel Kant is regarded as one of Europe’s most important philosophers and greatest thinkers. Spending all his life in Königsberg, the German philosopher from Prussia changed the world without having seen much of it first-hand. With events happening around the globe to mark 300 years since his birth, Latvia has more reason to celebrate than most places as, interestingly, his life and work were closely related to Rīga and what today is Latvia.
As previously reported by LSM, the Deutsche Bundesbank has taken a new focus on the Baltic States – and posted Nikola Marcinko as its special representative in Rīga with responsibility for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in an initiative to deepen ties with the Baltic central banks.
Enjoying the power of song, the German Bundestag President Bärbel Bas recently attended the Latvian Song Festival anniversary celebrations. While visiting Riga, she also held political talks with five other speakers of parliaments, congratulated the newly inaugurated Latvian president and found a moment to talk to LSM.
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle was forced to cease its operations in Russia – and has relocated to Latvia. A brand new exile office of the German international broadcaster is based in Rīga and is unconcerned about the recent furore concerning the local media watchdog's recent dealings with another media channel that relocated from Russia, 'Dozhd' (TV Rain).
Latvia has a long tradition of building houses from natural resources. Wooden architecture is preserved in abundance in Riga, but also elsewhere in the Baltic State it has withstood hard times. Many beautiful wooden houses can still be admired in their original setting, writes Alexander Welscher, in this feature from Baltic Business Quarterly magazine which is published by the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce (AHK) and is reproduced here with permission.
Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš had to spend two weeks in self-quarantine at the start of the coronavirus crisis, and has since been leading a government remotely from a home office in times of social distancing. Alexander Welscher asks how it all works in this feature from Baltic Business Quarterly magazine which is published by the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce (AHK) and is reproduced here with permission from a special COVID-19 edition.