The Academy

Many of the capital cities in Eastern Europe have a very ugly remnant of communist times, some people call it Stalin's birthday cake, others call an eyesore or even the Kremlin. The Latvian Academy of Sciences Building which according to Wikipedia was a gift from the workers and peasants of the other Soviet republics to the Latvian people to mark the borders of Stalin's empire, is a constant reminder to many of the fifty years of Soviet Occupation. I had an interview for my research in this building today, which houses the foremost Latvian academics and scientists. The epitome of Soviet Architecture, you can still see hammer and sickles on it, has seventeen floors and an excellent observation deck but only one elevator (I was told later that they had two but maybe the other one was not working). Does anyone else find that ironic that this is supposed to represent Stalin and the power of the USSR but yet they only thought to have two elevators? Granted the building was built in the 50's but still it just goes to show you the lack of planning and thought that actually went into these gifts.



I thought after my interview I would go up and see if the door was open to the observation deck. I got some lovely pictures from the top and superseded the ticket counter by looking like I belonged there (which I guess I actually did) and acting like I knew where I was going.