Description

The name of hillhas derived from the clay soil at its bottom. A view of the town’s lake and panorama once used to open up from the hill (62 a.s.l.). Now, the Imants Ziedonis Museum "Ziedonos Garden on Mālkalns" is being built there, and one of the stopping points and a distinct dominant feature of which is also the monument created in 1975 by the sculptor Arta Dumpe. The monument has only recently regained its name “The Oak. Branches of Power” (Ozols. Spēka zari). When entering Tukums from Riga, the monument resembles a large oak tree, forming a prominent vertical focus-point. But its story is as complex as the history of Latvia in the 20th century.

The monument was unveiled on 6 November 1975 as part of the elements of the Soviet Army Memorial. After the restoration of independence of the Latvian state in 1991, the symbol praising Soviet rule on Mālkalns was dismantled, leaving only the monument standing on the hill. The sculptor has written that, when she created the work, it did not meet the (Soviet) standards of the time, because the figures were not depicted wearing soldiers’ uniforms carrying weapons.

When asked about the symbols appearing on the monument, the sculptor confessed in an interview in 2022 that she imagined her grandmother, whose two sons died while serving for the Latvian Legionnaires, at the centre of the monument. A. Dumpe witnessed the war herself, while living in Remte, where the last major battles of the Kurzeme Fortress took place. Afterwards, oak trees were planted at these locations. As the artist was a pupil of the famous sculptor Kārlis Zemdega, his allegorical thinking had been passed on to her, and the family story and experience became the inspiration for the symbol of the monument — a mother with two sons, standing like a lone oak in the Kurzeme countryside, a symbol of strength and power.

The monument is considered a remarkable piece of artistic heritage of Latvia, emphasising that the monument by Dumpe is a stylistically and expressively polished work of art that highlights the smooth hill and draws attention to it. Gunita Čakare, Master of Arts, Associate Professor at the Department of Restoration at the Art Academy of Latvia, has written: “The description of the idea behind the art work contains a starkly true reference to the fact that, tragically, wars frequently force a brother to fight his brother, a father to fight his son, and to make the hearts of a mother, daughter or wife bleed… And Latvia is like a symbolic mother to all… wars always divide and destroy an individual, families, nations… This monument is not only an outstanding work of art in itself, it stands above time — across wars that have been and that are ongoing now.”

A special place has been reserved for this monument of A. Dumpe in the new garden, as it will facilitate the conversation about tragedies of Latvian history caused by the wars of the 20th century, about the Latvian Awakening and the role of activities of art and culture workers in it, and about the popular campaign to liberate heritage trees in Latvia in the 1980s, which was the brainchild of Imants Ziedonis.

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Sources:

“Tur nebija nekā no padomju ideoloģijas” (Free from Soviet Ideology) / “Neatkarīgās Tukuma Ziņas”, 01.07.2022

“Tukuma piemineklis. Mākslas zinātnieces viedoklis” (Tukums Monument. An opinion of an art scientist)/ “Neatkarīgās Tukuma Ziņas”, 17.06.2022