On Monday, August 31, at 18:30, a Memory Garden dedicated to the tragic events of November 21, 2013, will be opened at 20A Priedaines Street in Zolitūde, as reported by the Riga City Council. The ceremony will be attended by representatives of the capital's municipality, as well as emergency service personnel who were among the first to arrive to assist the victims on the day of the tragedy. Representatives of the society "21.11", who participated in the development and implementation of the Memory Garden idea, are also invited to the opening. ### The Tragedy that Claimed 54 Lives On November 21, 2013, the structures of the Maxima supermarket collapsed in Zolitūde. As a result of the tragedy, **54 people died**, and several dozen sustained serious injuries. Construction experts concluded that the cause of the disaster was errors in calculating the loads on the roof structures, which led to its collapse. ### A Place for Remembrance and Silence The Memory Garden occupies an area of 0.8 hectares. The project's foundation is the creation of a space where those affected by the tragedy and relatives of the deceased can hold memorial events, come to honor their loved ones, or simply remain in silence. Initially, nearly two million euros were allocated from the Riga municipality budget for the project's implementation. Later, an additional 11,131 euros were allocated. Almost 13 years after the tragedy, Zolitūde will have a permanent memorial space aimed at preserving the memory of the 54 victims and becoming a place where their relatives, friends, and residents of Riga can come to honor their memory.
