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The radio telescope at Irbene was at one time used for anti-espionage purposes. There were various military units and objects in Irbene, including a military housing estate that has now been abandoned. The radio telescope is now run by the Radio Astronomy Centre of the Latvian Academy of Sciences for scientific purposes. Guided tours of the object are available.
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The Pape airfield was used for arms training in Soviet times, with bombs being dropped on specific targets. The facility is owned by the regional local government and is not used. There are sunken ships and targets in the sea.
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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.
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The hydroplane airfield is on the eastern shore of Lake Durbe, not far from Līguti. It was built between 1939 and 1941. During the Soviet era, the 43rd aviation escadrille was located here, and it had 13 MBR-2 hydroplanes. All that’s left today are the cement sheets on the shore of the lake. You can look at the site itself.
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The 77th Zenith Missile Brigade of the Soviet Army was charged with air defences along the Soviet Union’s external border. The facility is owned by the regional local government and is not used for anything. There is an interesting gate at the entrance to the facility, however.
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This is an abandoned facility that is no longer used. The coast guard facility is in the forest, around 600 metres from the sea. There is one building right on the shore.
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There are several partly preserved buildings here, but there is a lack of information as to what they were used for. The reason why the buildings are in such sad shape is that people have removed parts of them to use as building materials.
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This military object ensured radio communications. Now the facility is owned by the Latvian Defence Ministry, and it can only be viewed from the outside.
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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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The communications facility in the forests of Bārta has been abandoned and is not being used other than for dismantling of buildings to obtain building materials.
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Today it seems unbelievable that just 20 years ago there were buildings on the coastline with massive projectors that were rolled onto a platform at night so as to shed light on the nearby sea and beach and to look for potential violators of the border regime. Only the buildings and the ruins of the platform are still there – they have been seriously damaged by the waves of the sea.
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This battery is easiest to find if you walk on the beach, because one of its four positions is right there, rinsed by the waves of the sea. Other positions, including a telescope tower, are in the pine forest not far from the coast. The battery was installed in the 1940s, and you can see the Northern Forts from here.
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The first Dnyestr-M radar station was opened here in 1969 to calculate the trajectories of ballistic missiles. The trajectories of satellites were also calculated here. The range of the radar station was 5,000 km. In 1972, construction began on a second, more modern radar, the Dnyepr-M. In 1977, it was ready for use, and the first radar was modernised at the same time. The two radars were located in buildings that were 250 m long and 17 m high. During a 24/hour period, they could identify the height, speed and flight trajectory of up to 750 space objects. In 1985, work began on a third, even more modern radar – the Daryal-YM. This was a radar that could “peek” across the horizon. The antenna building was 117 m high (19 stories), 80 m long and 80 m wide. It had a planned range of 6,000 km, but it was not completed. After the withdrawal of the Russian army in 1995, the building was blown up. That cost LVL 6,172,311 and used up 360 kg of explosives. The territory of the radar stations took up 1,072 hectares, with barracks, a hotel, 551 apartments, a medical facility, a water tower, a war hospital, a bomb shelter, etc. The aim of the facility was to monitor space above Western Europe and North America, as well as to “intercept” any ballistic missiles that were fired at the USSR. The territory is closed to visitors, but it is an important part of Latvia’s military heritage. The abandoned territory can be viewed from the outside. The nearby bus stop is called “Kombināts.” This was the only facility of its kind in the Baltic States. !!! Since March 2018 the Skrunda army base is closed for visitors. |
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A shooting range which isn’t really there anymore, but it was once
used for training purposes by the Soviet military. Right now you will see
an overgrown area of land which stretches from the seashore to the
Kolka-Ventspils road. That’s where the shooting range was located.
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The battery is to the South of Ventspils, not far from the Piejūras Park. Work on the battery began in 1939. Today the site is a complete mess, standing out in a negative way from the tidy city itself. People seeking building materials and ferrous metals helped to tear the place down. It’s too bad that this historical location – one that might be of interest to tourists – is in such sad shape, and right at the gates of the city, to boot.
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Another coastal defence battery was sited about 1,500 metres to the East of Lūžņa, where the Lūža River flows into the Baltic Sea. Remnants of Soviet-era buildings can still be seen there.
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The No. 94 Driving School of the Soviet Navy back in Soviet times now houses the Liepāja No. 3 Elementary School.
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The Swedish army built a modern fortress during the 1640s with five bastions and two gates. There were 120 cannons and mortar throwers, barracks for soldiers, flats for officers, a garrison church and warehouses for food at munitions. After the Great Northern War in 1710, the fortress was taken over by the Russian army. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, the Soviet navy took over the fortress. Alongside it is a former Soviet army facility with abandoned buildings and a monument to sailors who served in submarines. The fortress is open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays. |
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The former Soviet-era fuel base was part of the military facilities at that time. Fuel tanks from this site have been removed and no longer exist. |
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The Karaosta canal and its naval and submarine base date back to the tsarist era in advance of World War I. The former submarine base is now closed to visitors and is used for business purposes. The canal can be viewed from Pulvera Street and the restored Kalpaks bridge.
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