2024-05-04 22:31:45
3x6m wide flags raised on the radio and television towers of Daugavpils, Rēzekne, Valmiera, Cesvaine and Viesite. Slightly smaller flags fly in Sigulda, Liepāja, Ventspils, Preiļi, Viļani, Līvāni, Jelgava, Tukum, Sabilī, as well as in the only communication tower in the cultural and historical center of Riga on Ērgliu Street.
On the morning of May 4, a 3x6m wide flag will also be raised on the highest flagpole of the European Union, which is located in the Riga radio and television tower in Zaķusala. The flag on the Zaķusala TV tower will be raised for the tenth time this year on the morning of May 4. For the first time on May 4, the flag was raised in the tower of Zaķusala on May 4, 2015, symbolically welcoming Latvia on the 25th anniversary of the declaration of independence. Before that, the flag had flown in the tower only once since its construction – in December 2014. Other LVRTC towers were equipped with flagpoles in 2018, symbolically celebrating the country’s centenary.
The flagpole of the Zaķusala tower is special not only because it is the highest in the European Union, but also because it has flown only a flag raised by free will. During the Soviet years, when the tower was built, the workers were given the command to raise the flag of Soviet Latvia on the tower. The climbers who were entrusted with it refused to do it with the words: “If there is no red and white, then there is nothing!” Thus, the flag of the Latvian SSR was not raised, although a flag mast was planned for it when the tower was already being designed.
The raising of flags in the towers is carried out by LVRTC engineers and high climbers, who ensure the construction and maintenance of TV and radio as well as data transmission infrastructure on a daily basis. Raising the flag in each tower is different and is affected by the construction of the tower, the position of the flagpole, and the weather conditions in the specific place. It takes less than an hour in one tower and three hours in another.
“Flags on the communication towers of Latvia are both a festive decoration, visible to citizens even from a great distance, and a reminder of the importance of the LVRTC communication infrastructure in the availability of free information, in the formation and strengthening of the information society, which is an inalienable fundamental value of a democratic and sovereign state. On May 4, by raising the flags, we honor the restoration of our country’s independence – a brave decision that was made in a time of anxiety for the country and its citizens. This decision has entrusted a great responsibility not only to those who made it, but to each of us, so this year, during the holidays, the LVRTC joins the Latvian national guard’s initiative and established guiding principle for comprehensive national defense “My Latvia. My responsibility”, which reminds every person of Latvia of our responsibility to protect Latvia and everything that is dear to us”, emphasizes the chairman of the board of LVRTC Ģirts Ozols.
This week, the first flag was raised in Riga, on Ārgliu Street, where the only communication tower in the historical center of the capital is located. It is symbolic that during the years of Soviet occupation, the so-called “radio saws” were located in this place – equipment whose task was to disrupt and suppress the signals of western broadcasting stations during the Cold War.
2024-05-04 22:31:45