The ship on the left is called "Undine" (Mermaid), it was built in Sovetsk (city on the boundary between nowadays Lithuania and Russia) in 1971. In Soviet times it belonged to the prosperous fishing kolkhoz (collective farm) "Uzvara" (Victory). During one session the boat could take up to 3 tons of fish on board.
During barricades time in 1991, when Latvia re-gained its independence, the boat moved from the sea to the Daugava River in Riga (the capital of Latvia), where it was guarding television buildings on the island of Zakusala.
Bringing this 44-ton heavy veteran by land to its last anchorage in the Open-air Museum in Jurmala was a challenging task, but it proved worth it and today “Undine” is one of the most remarkable exhibits here. Surrounded by the nature park “Ragakapa” (Horn Dune), it seems that the boat continues its navigation, only that now it furrows the green expanses of pine-tree forest instead of blue waters of the Baltic Sea...
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