Soviet RīgaSoviet era fold-out postcard (Granovsky, ca. 1960)

While searching for a picture of a street kvass wagon, we ran across an entire fold-out set of images of Soviet-era Rīga that we had scanned but never published:

Soviet era Rīga photos fold-out, on the front cover: Daugava River, Komsomol Embankment

Go to the album

In addition to descriptions of the pictures, 32 in all plus covers, the album includes a short overview of Rīga in each of the languages included. Quoting the English version:

Capital of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic and second only to Leningrad in its importance as a Soviet port on the shores of the Baltic Sea, the city of Riga lies a little above the point where the Daugava River empties into the Gulf of Riga.

With a population of over 600,000 Riga is an important economic, cultural and scientific centre and one of the largest cities of the Baltic Republics.

It is in the years that followed the admission of Latvia into the family of Soviet Republics that the growth of Riga has been particularly rapid. Its industrial pattern has changed. In the past, industries manufacturing consumer goods predominated and while these continued to expand the city also witnessed a substantial development of such branches of heavy industry as metal processing, engineering, electrical engineering and chemistry.

Riga is the home of the Academy of Science of the Latvian S.S.R. with its network of research institutes and has, besides, 9 higher educational establishments, over 20 specialised secondary schools, 7 theatres and 9 museums.

Among the Baltic cities Riga is one of the most beautiful as well as one of the oldest. Historical landmarks such as towers, castles and churches dating back to the XIII-XVI centuries are to be found in the city's older quarters creating— together with the modern architectural ensembles of the newer quarters, the numerous parks and gardens and wide streets and squares—an unforgettable vista of the Latvian capital.

The set does betray its Kremlin-esque origins. For example, it translates "Domas Cathedral" (Domas Baznīca) as "Thinker's Cathedral," misinterpreting Latvian "doma", thought, for the German "Dom" or "Domkirsche"—a church of particular importance or special status. (Were the Soviet version accurate, the proper translation would be "Cathedral of thoughts.") However, in this case, Bishop Albert↗ moved the Livonian bishopric from Ikšķile (Uexküll in German) to Rīga in 1201, subsequently laying the Dom cornerstone in 1211.

Still, it is an informative historical study of a 20th century photographic version of the Potemkin village↗, complete with heavy-handed colorization and retouching glossing over authoritarian reality. Artifacts of the Soviet Russification program are in full evidence:

1. glorification of the Soviet state: obligatory statue of Lenin, Lenin boulevards, and so on;
2. glorification of Latvian communists: Pēteris Stučka's↗ accomplishments include bombing an anti-Soviet rally, good enough to have his name put on the Latvian State University, monuments erected in multiple cities including Rīga, and having a workers' town, now Aizkraukle↗ for the neighboring castle, named in his honor;
3. misappropriation of cultural icons: Rainis↗ is extolled as a revolutionary hero even while incorrectly referred to as "Jānis Rainis." (Latvians also make that mistake. "Rainis" is the nom de plume of Jānis Pliekšāns.) His likeness appeared on coins, stamps, and postcards. We must note the aforementioned Stučka did marry Rainis' sister, Dora Pliekšāne. Like a majority of pre-independence Latvians, Rainis had initially supported the Bolsheviks;
4. re-purposing and re-branding state institutions, stamping "Pioneer" on everything from museums to the local cinema;
5. erecting hideous Soviet pretensions, viz. the Soviet "Palace of Knowledge" housing the Latvian S.S.R.'s Academy of Science; and
6. generally portraying a cheerful and industrious prosperity, including conspicuously placed sedans, sometimes in motion as if intruding on the scene by chance—whose presence can only be to imply that the common man in the USSR is mobile and affluent, or even retouching automobiles into an image where none appeared at all.

We hope you find these as informative a look into portrayals of the Soviet era as we did in "rediscovering" them in our digital bin of in-progress projects.

The "color" photographs are attributed to "N. Granovskogo" (Цветное фото Н. Грановского). That is renowned Soviet era photographer Naum Samoilovich Granovsky↗↗ru, best known for his iconic photographs of Moscow, pointing to the value authorities placed on positively portraying the Soviet occupation of the Baltics.

A comparison of the postcards with Granovsky's photographs of Rīga at Lumiere Gallery↗ confirm his authorship:

Black-and-white original

Retouched — automobile added — and colorized postcard

There is an excellent and concise biography of Granovsky↗, click on the "ARTIST BIOGRAPHY" link, at the Lumiere Gallery web site. Lumiere acquired Granovsky's works in 2017 and is the current copyright holder.