The Castle of Light is a present to Latvia on the 90th anniversary of the independent state
Helēna Demakova, Minister of Culture
15.05.2008
“The contract that was signed today on the construction of the National Library of Latvia marks a new stage in the development of the project. The builders are taking over the baton from poets and politicians, they have to meet the objective enshrined in the law –The Castle of Light has to welcome the first visitors in 2012. Irrespective of the pragmatic character of the next steps, primarily aiming at knowledge based society, the symbolic meaning of the National Library should not be left out of sight. We are no longer saying like poet Runģēns did “When will those times that other nations are seeing now reach the Latvians?” We, not lacking in self-confidence, are creating these times ourselves.
When the union choir of the Song Celebration sing The Castle of Light by Jāzeps Vītols and Auseklis, Latvians feel united. A similar unity prevailed also almost twenty years ago, when in the period of the Popular Front and the national awakening the idea of The Castle of Light, rooted in Latvian folklore, was born. Perhaps it is symbolic in a way that the present Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis is one of the former Popular Front leaders. The start of the construction of The Castle of Light is a greeting on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the State of Latvia and also to the Popular Front on its twentieth anniversary!
If Latvians name something, then usually the word used is a metaphor. Perhaps this is the reason why Gunars Birkerts’ architecture of The Castle of Light, attributed features of a work of a genius, has emotionally moved so many Latvian people of culture – from Jānis Stradiņš to Alvis Hermanis, from Nora Ikstena to Jānis Dripe.
The Castle of Light will be the new and the major centre for everything Latvian. There is no contradiction between eternal storing of the Chest of Dainas (Folk Songs) in the ridge of the library and the advanced technologies that will be accessible to the library visitors. There are no contradictions between books and computers or the Internet. The only irresolvable contradiction lies between those who believe that Latvians have no right to have their own state, library or university, and the Latvians for whom this is the first opportunity in the history of our nation to build our own Castle of Light!
I would like to express heartfelt thanks to all librarians and Latvian intelligentsia, the agency “The Three New Brothers”, my colleagues politicians, my team at the Ministry and patriotically inclined Latvia’s media, who are not hiding behind recycled anonymous internet comments, but clearly state their editorial stance!
I wish the best of success and vigour to work to the builders, but to the readers – a little bit more of patience!”
