Friday, February 29, 2008

Preserving the Soviet heritage

LETA news agency reports that a group of Latvian enthusiasts is fixing up a former Soviet nuclear base in Zeltiņi (Alūksne county, NorthEast corner of Latvia). The base used to house nuclear missiles aimed at UK, Germany and Spain. It was abandoned during 1990s when the Soviet Union fall apart and Russian army withdraw together with all the nukes. Now, local history fans are turning it into a museum.

Here is the news video and here is a written report (both in Latvian). And here are some photos.

This is a part of a broader trend towards preserving the "Cold War heritage". In the Central Latvian town of Ligatne, tourists can visit "Bunkurs", a structure 9m (30ft) under the ground which would have served as the command center for the government of Soviet Latvia in case of the unclear war. Now, it's a highly popular tourism object and one can even book it for "Real Soviet-time party".

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