Watch "Lyme"

Their history can be counted from 1904, two years after a tram was launched in Riga. The city authorities (Mayor George Armitsted ) faced the issue of improving public transport stops, the needs of which were increasing, and therefore the infrastructure of which inevitably progressed every year. Then St. Petersburg architect August Reinberg creates an original tram stop design in the form of a wooden pavilion-pavilion in an elegant Swiss style , which it was decided to install near the recently rebuilt bridge over the city ​​canal . For the first time in the history of the city, an elegant watch appeared on the pediment of this kiosk. They advertised a trading house, the founder of which was the “king” of Livonian cosmetics and perfumes, Mr. von Jakš .

A small wooden newsstand on this place has existed since at least the 1880s, when a horse tram ran around Riga. By the end of the 1890s, the kiosk had the first poster stand in the history of the city. However, the watch appeared only at the new waiting pavilion, arranged in 1904.

By the early 1920s, the canons of fashion had changed, and Swiss design was outdated. In 1924, the Riga City Council sent an order for the construction of a new kiosk at the tram stop at the intersection of Bastei Boulevard and Brivibas Street to the design office of the Baltic-German architect Arthur Mödlinger (student of Konstantin Pekshen ). He creates a project of the Colonnade kiosk that has survived to this day in a fashionable neoclassical style - in appearance it resembled an elegant ancient Greek temple in miniature. This architectural solution was necessary in order to achieve harmony with the monumental building of the Latvian National Opera located in the neighborhood. The old Swiss-style wooden building was exiled to a new place, in the Riga Grisinkalns microdistrict.

Together with the old kiosk, the Yaksha clock also moved, and Riga residents needed to know the exact time. The representative of the Social Democratic bloc in the Riga City Council undertook to correct the problem situation by a deputy named Vecskalns, who tirelessly defended the interests of the Riga workers. Then in 1924, after his fiery speech at a meeting of the municipal authority, it was decided to put a clock with four dials on the iron axis at the kiosk. The discrepancies in the official notifications about the reasons for the appearance of the watch are curious: the owners of Riga industrial enterprises demanded that the watch be set so that the workers are not late to the factories, however, Mr. Vetskalns showed concern for the workers and stated that the watch was needed just so that the workers did not arrive early work for the insatiable, we seek capitalists for profit. These arguments, paradoxically contradicting each other, nevertheless influenced the Duma members who gave the go-ahead to setting popularly beloved watches. In addition, by the mid-1920s, the Latvian national economy had overcome a protracted crisis caused by the aftermath of the First World War . The signs of economic changes were the appearance in the urban visual culture of a forgotten element - industrial and commercial advertising, which changed the familiar appearance of the post-war capital.

A little later, in 1929, several stores were opened at the kiosk, which was expanded and well-maintained, for the sale of newspapers and lottery tickets, as well as public toilets, which are mandatory in the context of waiting for transport; Thus, the ancient pavilion of the work of Medlinger gained importance in the eyes of the inhabitants of the city. There was also a telephone booth in the pavilion and a cafe. True, after some time there was a rumor in the city that the deputies of the city hall unexpectedly intended to expand the boulevard, which would entail the demolition of the beloved kiosk and the clock with it, but in fact the rumors turned out to be false.

Until the beginning of the 1930s, the watch was named after the deputy Vecskalns, who was famous for the protection of the working class, but the circumstances changed and the watch soon took on a new look after the advertising function that they began to fulfill. At the intersection of Izvestkova (Kalkyu) and Bastei Boulevard, a new chocolate shop of Theodor Riegert opened . The store owners were preoccupied with finding a place to advertise their products, but they did not have to choose for a long time - the corner clock on the iron pole came in handy. In the early 1930s, they were decorated with the logo of a chocolate factory.

In 1936, new changes are coming: the Riegert factory changes its name to " Laima " (translated from Latvian, laime - happiness). When the factory was sold, the new owners changed the name of the company. The word “Laima” appeared on the front of the plates. Over time, the new city clock became a familiar symbol of the site between the National Opera Square and the Bastion Hill. Despite their utilitarianism, they are not inferior in recognition and popularity to the Freedom Monument located nearby. ^[1] This brand is destined to gain fame throughout the future Soviet space. As a result of the “rebranding”, the appearance of the city clock changed, the advertisement was also issued in the popular style in Europe of the interwar period - Art Deco . Now, the name of the company, depicted on each of the four sides of the column, has been supplemented with the names of product samples that the factory specialized in. The modern look of the watch was restored exactly on the model of 1936. In the dark, the advertising post on which the watch was held was illuminated from the inside, serving as a decoration for this always busy section of the boulevard ring .

The kiosk, in colloquial speech, received the name “Dashkovsky” - in honor of the Riga Russian businessman Nikolai Dashkov (a representative of a rather well-known Riga merchant family), who used his premises and opened a fruit store. The son of a kiosk tenant, Alexander Nikolaevich Dashkov , became a famous Soviet opera singer, one of the leading soloists of the Latvian National Opera . Already in the modern period, the Monument Commission at the Riga City Council discussed the issue of establishing a commemorative plaque dedicated to the Dashkova family at the Riga Colonnade kiosk, but the discussion was not crowned with concrete cases.

After October 17, 1944 (the date of the liberation of the Latvian capital from Nazi occupants), a large map was put up near the Lime clock, on which the course of hostilities was marked. Near this map, people gathered to follow the events of the last victorious stage of the Great Patriotic War .

In the mid-1960s, the Riga City Executive Committee decided to modify the "Lime" clock, ordering to remove the advertisement for the chocolate manufacturing enterprise and replace it with the word "peace", which was depicted on all four faces of the column in Russian, English, German and Latvian.

The mid-1970s also brought about changes when the word “world”, in turn, was disgraced and removed, and instead an image of seven glowing cubes appeared, sending the viewer to the concept of abstraction in visual art. Nevertheless, on one of the cubes the inscription “Peace” was still preserved. In the 1980s, stickers appeared on illuminated cubes, which significantly added to the stand for the watch variegated and colorful.

In the early 1990s, the watch takes on the appearance of the prototype of the German advertising post in 1936. The old Lime brand, under which watches are known in Riga today, is returning to them. Nevertheless, the real restoration took place with a watch in 1999 - on the eve of the official eighth centenary of Riga from the day the city was founded by Bishop Albert Buksgevden , which was celebrated in 2001. At the expense of Laima OJSC, the municipal authorities carried out a complete reconstruction of the clock, which was returned to its original form. Since its inception, the Lyme watch has become a favorite meeting place, a sort of hallmark of a romantic cityscape. Then, elegant lighting was created, the names of the factory's products were restored, a new clockwork created in Switzerland was mounted.

At the end of December 2017, the watch opened after another reconstruction. From this moment on, every hour, the legendary watch reproduces a live performance of one of Raymond Pauls ’s famous tunes, 24 tunes per day ^[2] .

• Watch "Lyme"
• A story about watches and photos on the website citariga.lv
• Photos of the original appearance of watches on the website of the Laima factory.