House of the Livonian Noble Corporation
House of the Livonian Nobility | |
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Jānis Baumanis | |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | Eižens Laube, Andris Veidemanis |
The House of the Livonian Noble Corporation (Latvian: Vidzemes bruņniecības nams), also known as Saeima House (Saeimas nams), is the seat of the parliament of Latvia, the Saeima. It is located in the Vecpilsēta (Old Town) neighbourhood of downtown Riga.
Architecture
The building was constructed to house the
History
- Empire
In the
- Latvian independence
After the People’s Council declared Latvian independence on 18 November 1918 the building served as its home, except for the period during 1919 when the All-Latvian Congress of Workers' Soviet Deputies of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic controlled Riga. After the socialist republic was defeated, the building became the seat of the Constitutional Assembly elected in 1920. On 17 October 1921, the building was destroyed by fire. It was restored according to the design of the architect Eižens Laube. The restoration included a new statue by sculptor Rihards Maurs of Lāčplēsis the "bear-slayer", from the Latvian epic of the same name, replacing the statue of von Plettenberg which was destroyed in the fire. At the time of the building's restoration the main assembly hall was modified to meet the needs of the Saeima of the new Republic of Latvia. The Saeima chamber today still approximates this design. The last meeting of the Constitutional Assembly, which wrote the Constitution of Latvia took place in the restored building on 3 November 1922.
- Authoritarian régime
The building served as the home of the Saeima until a self-coup by serving Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934. Ulmanis assumed the title of President in 1936 and the continuous dissolution of the Saeima served the purposes of his authoritarian régime, the building was instead to house the presidential administration.
- Occupation
During the
- Restoration of independence
After the
Gallery
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Plenary Chamber
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Yellow Room
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Red Room
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White Room
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Voting Room
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Brown Room
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Grand Staircase
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Main entrance on Klostera Street
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Klostera Street and St. James's Cathedral
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Building in Winter
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View along Jēkaba Street
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Statue of Lāčplēsis. Destroyed circa 1950s, restored 2007.
See also
References
- ^ "Main building of the Saeima". 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.