On 20 January, we honor the Latvian patriots who took part in 1991, at the risk of their lives in the Barricades movement, nonviolently defending the freedom of their country.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Barricades in 2021, the Latvian Firefighting Museum hosted an exhibition of documentary photographs by Georgy Yemelyanov, a Barricades participant. The collection captures the documentary evidence of the events in black and white pictures - the sights of the barricades, the undying bonfires in the streets of Old Riga, the gloomy atmosphere around and the relentless belief on people's faces that together anything is possible.
The photographs are currently on display in the museum's virtual exhibitions section: https://www.muzejs.vugd.gov.lv/lv/media/374/download?attachment
Georgy Yemelyanov was born in 1942 in Riga. In 1971 he graduated from the Civil Aviation Flying School in Sasovo; in parallel, he learned the profession of a photographer and worked for five years on AN-2 behind the Arctic Circle (Yamal Peninsula), and these years left the most vivid impressions in his life.
He retired in 1985 and worked as a photographer with the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation. A few years later, he was a member of the Latvian State Archive of Cinematographic Documents. Currently, he is one of the specialists at the Latvian Fire Museum.
