After a long pause, I continue my report from Baltic countries. We said good-bye to Tallin and drove down to Riga, the capital city of Latvia. What is the difference between these two countries? Riga is located the mouth of the Daugava river, the city was already recorded in the early time of 2nd century as a viking route to Bizantium. Riga has been developed as the centre of trade and became the biggest city among Baltic countries. Compared to Tallin, the high buildings are spread out around the city centre. Some of buildings are well known as Art Nouveau style of 19th century, some other ones look typical Soviet style or modern high-tech style. Thus, my impression of Riga is like a little Moscow, there was more mixed culture. Besides, 40% of the population is Russian.
バルトの国からレポートを続けます。タリンを発った後、ラトビアの首都リガへ車で移動しました。この2国にはどんな違いがあるのでしょうか？リガはダウガヴァ川の河口、２世紀の頃からヴァイキングの交易通路として栄えたと記録が残っています。現在もバルト沿岸地域で最大都市であり、貿易の拠点です。こじんまりしたタリンと比べると、大きなビルが市内に点在します。ある建築は19世紀のアールヌーボー調、あるいは典型的なソビエトスタイル、あるいは近代的なハイテクビル。リガは様々な文化が入り混じり、まるで小さなモスクワのようです。ちなみに、人口の４０％はロシア人！
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| Riga city, the old town has wide variety of architecture. |
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| The blackhead house reconstracted in 1999 |
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| Art Nouveau style was populer in Riga in the late of 19th century. |
In the old town, some medieval architecures are preserved as same as Tallin, but unfortunately they are more commercialized. Flashy ads and shop signs are breaking the beautiful atmosphere. In other words, the city looks lively with economical activity.
旧市街ではタリンと同様、中世建築が残されていますが、残念なことに商業的なイメージが強いです。派手な広告やお店の看板が雰囲気を邪魔します。経済的に賑わっているともいえるのですが・・・。
My focus is of course, art and design. Let's discover the original design of Latvia! I visited the folk craft shop,
Sena Klets where we can see Latvian traditional costumes, textiles, ties and so on. They look similar to Estonians, but
mittons are very special and remarkable in Latvia. See the variety of mitton designs!!
私の興味はもちろん、アート＆デザイン。ラトビアならではのデザインを探しにいきましょう。まずは民芸ショップ、
Sena Kletsをたずねました。伝統衣装、布、織紐などは、一見エストニアにとてもよく似ていますが、「ミトン（手袋）」はラトビア民芸で特筆すべきアイテムです。このデザインパターンの豊富なこと！
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| National costume center "SENA KLETS" |
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| Latvian mittons |
Latvia is the place where the oldest mittons (10th century) were founded. Since the ancient times, they are very important part of Latvian life. Especially before the wedding, the brides had to knit mittons for her family. Every pattern has its own meaning for wish. Most of these patterns come from the Latvian tradition of deities and gods.
ラトビアは世界最古、１０世紀のミトンが発掘された場所でもあります。古来よりミトンはラトビア人の生活でとても重要、とりわけ結婚式前に花嫁は家族のためにミトンを編まなければいけなったそうです。模様の一つ一つはラトビア古代の神に由来し、願いがこめられています。
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| I bought these mittons for myself |
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| Examples of Latvian traditional symbols |
The intersting thing there is that nowadays these traditional symbols are revived by local designers. They adopt them to comtemporary designs, such as homeware goods, clothing and acceseries. For example, I show the hotel where we stayed. You can recognize Latvian design elements on its interior.
ラトビアで面白いことは、ローカルデザイナーによって伝統模様がリバイバルされていること。彼らは伝統的なデザインパターンを用いてお洒落な製品を作っています。たとえば私が泊まったホテルのインテリア、さりげなくラトビア模様が施されていることに気づくでしょう。
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| Traditional folk art reworks in modern design |
Also, I found several stylish shops selling nice items crafted by local artists.
また街にはローカルアーティストの作品を販売している、素敵な雑貨店も見られました。
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| Latvian design and lifestyle shop, "RIIJA" |
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| Gellery "ETOMO", selects the nice goods created by Latvian artists |
In Tallin, I found that the traditonal folk art exits as they were, but here in Riga, they are revived in modern style to meet the demand of young generations. In history, both Estonia and Latvia had experienced occupation by several countries, therefore the original folk art plays an very important role of promoting cultural attractions.
タリンでは民芸は昔のまま素朴に残されている印象でしたが、リガでは新しいスタイルに生まれ変わり、若い世代の心をつかんでいるようです。歴史上、様々な国に支配されてきたエストニアとラトビア。だからこそ、民間に伝承される文化は国の大切な遺産であり、観光都市としての魅力づくりに欠かせないものなのでしょう。
