Have you ever thought that a beautiful nature scenery is actually not real? A small village right outside of Riga, my home, has four big lakes that are bigger than the village itself. For the first 12 years of my life I believed that I lived in a paradise on earth, but learning about the history of my homeland threw a big curveball. You may think that everything here is natural and people just have found a beautiful place to build their homes at, but actually the entire landscape is manmade.
Very common characteristics of Latvians are seclusion and love for nature. A place to live, where there are not a lot of people and nature is nearby can be called a true Latvian dream. Sauriešu quarries are exactly that – four big lakes, with forests, hiking tracks and camping places around them.
The origins of these quarries can be traced back to the 15th century, but a clearer history begins in 1859. This was a place with no water, no trees, it was a place in the middle of nowhere. Until someone discovered that the ground is very rich in gypsum stone. From that point everything began to evolve – a factory was established which cooperated with a cement factory in Riga and a village started to appear. Factory employers even financed the construction of houses in the village, because the workers could get to work faster and work more.
During the Soviet era, the government took over the factory and built very basic and simple apartment houses for the workers. As a common practice all over Latvia, everything was the same, however, quoting George Orwell, everyone was equal, but some were more equal than others. This was the time when the factory started it’s downfall. There was a time that huge pits were left the way they are and the factory stopped working.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the factory was saved by being taken over by a German company, but they faced a big obstacle – during the mining of gypsum, many underwater springs were dug up and they couldn’t be stopped. It was so hard to stop nature, that they decided that recultivating the place and letting the water flow would be best.
Now it has become a place of peace and in true Latvian nature – still a place with almost no people. Diving enthusiasts come to learn to dive and they’ve found remnants of houses and cars, there are rumors that there’s a monument and even a tractor somewhere.
When you are looking at some beautiful scenery next, think, maybe it’s completely fake.
