Saeima of the Republic of Latvia

This year marks 20 years since 21 August 1991, when the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia adopted the Constitutional Law on the Statehood of the Republic of Latvia.

In order to mark the anniversary of the de facto restoration of independence of our country, the Saeima has begun compiling a comprehensive video archives of eye-witness accounts, experiences and memories of that time. The archive project will immortalise accounts of events as witnessed by members of the Supreme Council and their contemporaries who supported the idea of an independent state.

The series of interviews titled the History of the rebirth of Latvia will introduce you to excerpts from several interviews in which witnesses of the time recall the days of the August Putsch and the adoption of the Constitutional Law.

The authors of this project are people who were members of the Supreme Council themselves at that time and whose professional activity is associated with journalism – Edvīns Inkēns, Jānis Gavars, Viktors Avotiņš, Jānis Krūmiņš and Normunds Beļskis.

Publication, distribution, reproduction and copying of videos from this section is not permitted without consent from the copyright owner – the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia.

Translations of interview transcripts are available here: