Country Holidays
21-40 / 125
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The ship and coast guard missile repair workshops in the forests around Bārta in the Liepāja District are very impressive in visual terms. The facility is owned by the regional local government and is being dismantled to obtain building materials.
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This extensive territory to the South of Pāvilosta once was the site of warehouses and an oil base. The territory at this time is used for the extraction of raw materials. There is also a sawmill there. The sign at the entrance of the facility states that the area can be dangerous to visitors.
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The largest collection in Europe of Soviet aviation and military equipment is on the territory of the Rīga International Airport and is open to visitors. The collection was assembled over the course of 40 years.
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In the small town of Pļaviņas, at the place where the Skanstupīte River flows into the Daugava (Friendship Park), there are the remnants of a set of small and low fortifications known as the Swedish bastions. This was a place of military and political importance, because here was the place where the boundaries of Vidzeme (under Swedish rule), Latgale (under Polish rule), and the Duchy of Kurzeme (on the opposite side of the river) all came together. In 1625, the Swedes were defeated by the Poles here, and Swedish King Gustav Adolf almost lost his life. Medieval bastions of this kind can be seen in some other places of Latvia, as well.
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Few Soviet military objects are associated with more legends than this one. During Soviet times, this was a reserve airfield, as well as a storage site (just 50 kilometres from the republic’s capital city) for nuclear weapons. These were hidden in two cement hangars that were covered with soil and vegetation. Public information suggests that an RX-24 nuclear bomb weighing 430 kg and a RX-26 nuclear bomb weighing 1,030 kg were stored here, as were air-to-land missiles equipped with nuclear explosives. If there had been an accident here, what would have happened to Rīga, to Latvia, to the Baltic States and to Northern Europe? The airfield is a closed territory today.
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The zenith missile base at Rucava is in the forests of the Baltic coastline. The facility is owned by the regional local government and is not used at this time.
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Only indirect evidence of the former tank base that was here is still available (see the story).
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Viens no parka neparastākajiem vēstures objektiem, kas apvīts ar daudzām leģendām un noslēpumiem, par kuriem vēl joprojām nelabprāt izsakās ar to saistītie cilvēki. Zināms, ka bāzi laikā no 1960. – 1962. g. ļoti stingrā slepenībā cēla ~ 10 000 kareivji no citām padomju republikām. Pazemes ejas bija būvētas tā, lai pa tām varētu pārvietoties tikai maza auguma cilvēki. Zem zemes atradās 4 šahtas, no kurām varēja palaist vidējā rādiusa ballistiskās raķetes R – 12 U ar kodolgalviņām. Blakus atradās apkalpojošā personāla telpas, elektrības ģenerators, sakaru centrs u.c. Līdz 2010. g. bāzi varēja apskatīt vietējā gida pavadībā. Tagad to rekonstruē un 2012. g. plāno atklāt Aukstā kara muzeju. Bāze atrodas austrumos no Plateļu ezera, liela meža masīva vidū.
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The former missile transport facility at Karaosta is not used any more. The territory is mostly closed off to visitors.
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The Rumbula airfield was originally a military facility, established after World War II at a place where many single family farms had been before. When the Spilve airfield shut down, civilian aircraft moved to Rumbula, while military aircraft were based at the Rīga airport. Today the world “Rumbula” is most often associated with the automobile and spare parts market that has been established on part of the former airport’s territory. A certain “heritage” at the site is pollution from the former airfield’s fuel containers, where petroleum was stored. Paragliding occurs at the airfield.
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This was Coastal Defence Battery No. 500 at one time, and it was dismantled in 1955. There were four 130 mm cannons, and their foundations can still be spotted in the forest northeast from the lighthouse. They are mostly covered by moss and can be very hard to find. Those who are not familiar with the region will probably have the most trouble of all.
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The border guard facility at Pāvilosta is closed to civilians at this time, because it is used by the Latvian Navy.
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In the South-western parts of the former Spilve airfield, you can still see concrete areas on which Soviet-era military helicopters once landed.
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This is a closed and guarded territory on the banks of Lake Būšnieks in Staldzene. The former project building is on the shore of the sea.
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During Soviet times, Vaiņode was the site of one of the Soviet Union’s largest military airfields in the Baltic States. During the period of Latvia’s independence, the country’s first dirigibles were based here. Eventually their hangars were dismantled and brought to Rīga, where they were used for the Rīga Central Market. They are still there today. Some of Latvia’s first gliders took off from Vaiņode. During the Soviet occupation, the airfield was home to an air defence and destroyer squadron, with 38 SU-27 “Flanker” destroyers on site. After the restoration of Latvia’s independence, the Vaiņode airfield was dismantled in part, and the big plates of concrete that covered the runways and the rest of the airfield were used to improve the Liepāja port. There are still 16 hangars at the airport, and 1,800 of the formerly 2,500 metres long runway are also still there. More information about the airfield can be found at the Vaiņode Regional Research Museum.
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Until the 1680s, where the Vecdaugava neighbourhood is located, there was a castle which, because of natural changes in the riverbed of the Daugava, was then dismantled and “moved” to the Left Bank of the Daugava. Nothing remains of the castle, but people can still see the remnants of old barriers and moats. Swedish soldiers used the facility at the beginning of the Great Northern War. The place is certainly interesting in the context of Rīga’s history and military heritage, and if you’re in the northern reaches of the city, we recommend that you go and have a look.
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This facility is used for military and tactical training at this time. The facility can be used for automobile and motorcycle racing, testing drives, and security training, all of which must be arranged in advance. The surrounding nature reserve offers a chance to look at local plants and animals.
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This unique territory covers more than 24,400 hectares, and the Soviet military used it as an aviation training centre. The history of the base dates back to 1951, when four kolkhozes were shut down, roads were closed, and several hundred farms and homes were simply moved elsewhere. A civilian presence at the base was restored only in 1993, when several new roads were installed. If you want to get a bird’s eye view of the base and its forests, you have to climb a high, manmade hillock from which commanders watched manoeuvres. We do not recommend that you wander off from the roads!
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This extremely secret bunker was one of the most important facilities in Soviet Latvia in the event of a nuclear attack. Under the code name of “Rest Home,” the bunker is nine metres under the ground at the Līgatne Rehabilitation Centre, and it would have been the place where Soviet Latvian government officials would have gone in the event of an attack. The status of a secret object was lifted only in 2003. The underground installation has been preserved fully.
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The job for the No. 15 Radio Technology Brigade at Saraiķi was to defend Soviet Latvia’s shoreline back in Soviet times. Today the facility is owned by the Defence Ministry, and the No. 17 Home Guard Battalion uses it for training purposes.