Jūrmala to get an urban environment object, “Baltic Stream”

A new environmental object, “Baltic Stream”, will be installed in Bulduri, at the access point to the sea. At the council meeting on 22 April, councillors approved the allocation of funds for its creation. The artistic concept of the object received a positive evaluation in the design competition organised by the municipality in 2019, “Creation of an Artistically Outstanding Environmental Object in Jūrmala”.

The environmental object “Baltic Stream” is planned to be installed in Bulduri, on Vienības Avenue, at the access point to the sea. The approximately three-metre-high sculptural work will be made of polished stainless-steel elements. The surrounding area will be landscaped, and the object is planned to be illuminated during the hours of darkness.

Explaining the concept of the idea, the author of the sculptural work, artist Kaspars Līdums, says: “The environmental object is a tribute to cooperation among the Baltic states, and its location has profound symbolic significance, as a conference of the governments of the Baltic Sea states was held in Bulduri in 1920, at which the formation of the Baltic Entente was decided. The object symbolically depicts the riches of our sea and the united strength of our peoples.”

The funds for creating the new urban environment object “Baltic Stream” were reallocated from the funding intended for the project competition “Promoting Creativity and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Jūrmala”. Due to the restrictions on gatherings and bans on organising events imposed in the country, the competition will not be held in 2021.

The total cost of the project is 78 thousand euros; the largest share of the funding is earmarked for landscaping the area surrounding the environmental object; the cost of manufacturing and installing the object is 32 thousand euros.

In order to create an artistically outstanding environmental object in Jūrmala’s urban environment that would enrich the resort city’s surroundings and enhance the city’s recognition, at the end of 2019 the Jūrmala municipality organised the design competition “Creation of an Artistically Outstanding Environmental Object in Jūrmala”. The competition jury selected four winners, awarding two second places and two third places.

Last year, two of the projects that won the competition were implemented: Kristaps Gulbis’s environmental object “Jūrmala’s White Seagull”—three benches with bronze seagulls, located on Dzintari Beach, in Horn’s Garden and in the square next to Majori Station—and “Pine Cone”, created under the direction of architect Didzis Jaunzems and installed in the Jaundubulti square.

A sculptural composition, “I Stood and Sang on the High Hill”, is currently being created in the workshop of sculptor Olga Šilova; it will be located in Melluži Park. The object “Baltic Stream” is the fourth of the environmental objects selected in the design competition, and it is planned to be completed within a year.

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