On March 24, 2004, in Riga, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga promulgated the State Awards Law, which organized Latvia’s system of highest state awards. The law established that Latvia’s state awards are the Order of the Three Stars, the Order of Viesturs, the Cross of Recognition, and the Commemorative Medal for Participants of the Barricades of 1991; it also restored the Order of Viesturs and the Cross of Recognition. This was a quiet but symbolically powerful episode of statehood — an order became a visible language of gratitude for service to Latvia.
After the restoration of independence, Latvia needed to restore not only its institutions but also the state’s rituals of honor. The 2004 law linked the award traditions of the interwar republic with the legal order of modern Latvia.
Related events
- 1861Henrijs Visendorfs was born — a Latvian merchant, publisher, and important supporter of the publication of Latvju dainas.
- 1922The Constitutional Assembly adopted the law on working time — it established an eight-hour workday for wage-earning manual workers.
- 1924The Order of the Three Stars was founded in Latvia — the highest state award, later one of the most visible symbols of Latvian statehood.
Footnotes
- 1.https://www.vestnesis.lv/ta/id/85981-valsts-apbalvojumu-likums
- 2.https://lvportals.lv/dienaskartiba/369182-ordenu-kapitula-pazinojumi-latvijas-vestnesi-29-personam-pieskirti-latvijas-valsts-augstakie-apbalvojumi-2024
- 3.https://www.president.lv/lv/triju-zvaigznu-ordenis
- 4.https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/24._marts
- 5.https://lvportals.lv/dienaskartiba/172521-iznak-latvijas-lietuvas-un-igaunijas-pastmarku-kopizdevums-baltijas-valstu-augstakie-apbalvojumi-2008
- 6.https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrijs_Visendorfs
- 7.https://www.vestnesis.lv/ta/id/32100