National Library of Latvia Companies" signed the contract on the construction of the new "National Library of Latvia". On 18 May 2014, the main facility of the Library at Krišjāņa Barona iela was closed for the move. In 2008, construction started according to the design of the Latvian-American architect Gunnar Birkerts who has been tasked with the project already in 1989. The new building has 13 floors and is 68 m high. Construction costs were given as 193 million euros. 480 people work there. As part of Riga's programme for its title as European Capital of Culture, selected holdings were symbolically carried from the
On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia that in April 1920 the Latvian nation followed the principle of self-determination by electing a Constitutional Assembly of Latvia, which adopted the Constitution of Latvia on 15 February 1922, in general, equal and direct elections, based on proportional representation. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Latvia was apportioned to the Soviet sphere and on 5 October 1939, signed a mutual assistance pact. On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Latvia accusing it of not carrying out