Statue of Roland (Riga)

Roland is a stone or wooden sculpture that was found in the Middle Ages, mainly in the cities of Northern Germany , which entered into agreements on economic and trade cooperation and gradually formed the Hanseatic League . Riga entered this union at the end of the 13th century as a large and influential trading outpost of the Livonian Confederation , but it is difficult to say how many wooden statues of Roland existed in the center of urban bargaining in the medieval period. It is only known that the Riga City Council instructed a woodcarver named Jacob to make a new statue instead of the previous one in 1474, as evidenced by an entry in the city chronicles that were conducted by the magistrate's lawyers . This was the first surviving documentary mention of the Roland statue in Riga . Wooden Rolands in Riga and other Hanseatic cities were often asked for help, sacred protection, a prayer for health, profit and successful trading (cf. the similar function of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Orthodox merchant tradition), as well as in the hope of finding a fair trial. However, the first wooden statues of Roland in Riga could be burned up as a result of devastating fires, or in some cases their heads (when they served as targets during knightly tournaments) could be damaged by archery from the noble applicants for the honorary title of May Count , for the right to possess which in Riga Between the young German townspeople of noble origin, many days of competition were held in agility, endurance and accuracy.

The exact origin and significance of the statue of Roland is unknown, however, there are several versions of the development of the image of Roland in the cultural space of the European Middle Ages. Some researchers associate this statue with the personality of the legendary knight Roland , nephew of Emperor Charlemagne . One way or another, it is believed that the statue of Roland, which adorned the central trading areas of medieval Hanseatic cities, symbolized the free market, the independence of the city council, which owned the highest judiciary and commercial law, as well as the priority of secular government over religious (church) ones.

In fact, Roland's long sword can hardly be the legendary magical Durendal , owned by the historical knight. The two-handed heavy sword in Roland's right hand personified the harsh judgment of the executioner; in medieval practice of punishment with such a sword, the executioner chopped off the hand of a criminal convicted of theft and convicted of a magistrate. This sword was actually an allegory of justice and indicated the inevitability of retaliation. First, swords of this kind, together with shields decorated with images of the emblems of the city, were set separately, and then an allegorical image evolved into a knight armed with a sword and shield. A curious version is that the name "Roland" could be a transformed combination in medieval German "dasroteLand", meaning "land stained with blood", where usually city executioners carried out sentences; hence the sound reinterpretation: Rotland> Roland (influenced by French poetic and epic legends about the life and work of the paladin Roland, a betrayed and killed in the battle of Ronceval ). It is possible that such an interpretation could be associated with the manifestation of common (false) etymology and the characteristics of urban folklore of the late Middle Ages.

Roland was installed on Town Hall Square as a symbolic decoration of an artesian well. It was the geometric center of Riga; the end of Roland's sword has traditionally marked the point of intersection. The new statue replaced a wooden one that had deteriorated by this period. Apparently, the establishment of a new Roland statue between the Riga Town Hall and the House of the Blackheads at the end of the 19th century was intended to emphasize the historically determined dominant of German culture in the context of the “confrontation of monuments” that erupted between the Ostsee community of the Baltic Region , which claimed cultural and political hegemony, and the Russian the population of Livonia and Courland . The exact date of the inauguration of the monument in Riga: December 11, 1896.

During the first artillery bombardment of Riga by the Wehrmacht artillery units from the left bank of the Daugava on June 29, 1941 (see Defense of Riga ), the statue was damaged. In 1970, its partial restoration was carried out by the Estonian sculptor Maria Ehelide , who also took an active part in the restoration of the sculptural ensemble of portals of St. Peter's Church . Then the sculpture was transferred to the Riga Center for the Promotion of Architecture and Urban Planning , which is located in the restored St. Peter's Church in 1984, where it is stored to this day.

In early 1999, a new pedestal was installed for the future most accurate copy of the statue of Roland instead of the previous one, which was dismantled after the Great Patriotic War . In May 1999, this copy was installed - its author is Edwin Krumins . Thus, Riga is a rare example of a European city in which two statues of Roland coexist (the original is in St. Peter's Church; a copy is in the center of Town Hall Square). It is noteworthy that Riga Roland is the northernmost in Europe (the southernmost statue of Roland is in Dubrovnik , Croatia ).

• Roland
• Statue of roland
• Statue of Roland in Galle