Old postcards Latvia

So far, the Soviet postcards of Latvia in this section all show Riga. The core of the section is two sets of city views issued in 1968 and 1973, and they share most of their subjects: the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the State Philharmonic, the Sea Passenger Terminal, the Brothers’ Cemetery, the tombstone of the national poet Rainis and a festive fireworks display. Many views therefore exist here in two editions five years apart.

Night views appear too: “Lenin Street at Night” is part of both the 1968 and the 1973 set. Other cards show the corner of Padomju Boulevard and Lenin Street (1973), 17 June Square and the Komsomol Embankment (1968), where Lenin Street began.

Old Riga appears in separate shots: the Dom Cathedral (1968), the roofs of the Old Town and tourists in its lanes. The 1971 Soviet postcards of Riga add winter scenes — Communards’ Square under snow and a view from Bastion Hill — along with Opera Square and the bus station.

Every Riga card here was scanned from a Soviet-era original, not a modern retro print; further Latvian views will be added once they are scanned.