Jūrmala has lost its former 'essence,' says architect Baiba Verpe. She gives a harsh assessment: although Jūrmala positions itself as a resort city, this no longer corresponds to reality.
This is a city that undoubtedly has rich natural resources, but one must learn to separate memories from reality here. Another pressing issue is the architectural heritage. Most projects referred to as 'reconstruction' are actually new buildings, she says. 'Buildings constructed from fibo-blocks clad in boards are merely approximate copies because, for example, the proportions have been altered. Jūrmala is essentially a newly built city. I believe that after such reconstruction, the cultural and historical value of a building changes - it diminishes.'
In Verpe's opinion, things should be called by their true names. The current practice will certainly become a historical testimony: 'Of how we treat wooden buildings. In any case, the actual demolition of historical wooden architecture is happening nowhere else in Latvia as brutally and massively as in Jūrmala. In other places, they argue over every fragment and try to preserve it. In Jūrmala, they don't even try because they know it is more profitable to build houses from blocks and sell them. This is allowed, it has been allowed for a long time,' the architect criticizes both the clients and the architects as well as the local government.
Another problem is related to Soviet architecture: 'Heritage guardians have not understood for 30 years that this historical period has ended and that it also has its own values. They still have not recognized this architecture.' However, there is one monument from the recent history of the resort in Jūrmala - the summer canopy over the Dzintari Concert Hall, designed by Modris Gelzis. The understanding of architecture has already begun to change, says Verpe, but the war in Ukraine has suppressed this impulse. In her opinion, many sanatoriums and other buildings from that time should be included in the list of cultural heritage sites.
