The Brothers' Cemetery or Cemetery of the
Brethren (in Latvian "Bralu Kapi") also sometimes referred to in
English as the Common Graves or simply as the Military Cemetery, is
a military cemetery and national monument in Riga, capital of
Latvia.
The
cemetery is a memorial to and burial ground for thousands of
Latvian soldiers who were killed between 1915 and 1920 in World War
I and the Latvian War of Independence.
It was built as an integrated combination of
sculpture and landscaping between 1924 and 1936, to designs by the
sculptor Karlis Zale, many of whose sculptures feature prominently,
by the architects P. Feders, A. Birzenieks, P. Kundzins, the
landscape gardener Andrejs Zeidaks, the sculptors J. Cirulis and F.
Valdmanis and others.
The
cemetery takes up 9 hectares in Northeastern Riga 5 kilometers from
city center, it borders First forest cemetery and Rainis cemetery.
The memorial expresses national gratitude to falen heroes trough
cultural references to Latvian nation. The main gate of the cemtery
is 10 meters high and 32 meters wide. The enterance is sided by two
sculptural groups of dying horsemen - placed on 2 meters high
platforms, the 3.3 meters high sculptures depict two pairs of
ancient Latvian horsemen. The riders and horses in the right
sculptural group have stright stances, one of the horses has
throwed back its head upward movement dominates in the sculptural
group, it is contrasted by the left sculptural group dominated by
downward movemented expressed trough bowed heads of the riders and
horses, the riders have lowered their shields and flags they are
carrying. Above the enterence dates 1915 (in which first burials in
the cemetery were made) and 1920 (the last year of the Latvian War
of Independence), inbetween the dates the gate is decorated with
Coat of arms of Latvia. From the main enterence the 205 meters long
Road of thoughts leads trough alley of linden trees to Terrace of
heroes encircled by oak grove planted in 1923. The terrace, paved
with plates of tufa, is about 73 meters wide and 78 meters long,
the 1 meter high altar of enternal fire is placed in its center. As
the Terrace of heroes rises above the Road of thoughts it hides the
central burial ground, which is on lower level than the Road of
thoughts, from the sight until one has crossed the terrace, thus
the terrace provides overview of the burial field and forms a
barrier between the world of living and world of the
dead.
The cemetery contains more than 2,000 burials
mostly of soldiers who were killed between 1915 and 1920 in World
War I and the Latvian War of Independence. It also contains, as
reburials, a number of graves of Latvians killed during World War
II and of holders of the Lacplesis War Order (Latvian: Lacplesa
Kara ordenis), awarded for extraodinary merit during the Latvian
War of
Independence.
Cemetery
is opened: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri - 9.00-17.00. Sat, Sun -
9.00-23.00