VARIS SANTS

For half a century now, my steps have been measuring the streets of our small town. Memories of how Aizpute looked in my childhood or school years I consider to be my wealth. Indeed, not that much time has passed when I still went to the Old Castle with Teacher Ilmārs Šteinbergs for a lesson in history, or remembering the beautiful old buildings and romantic courtyards with firewood sheds on Padomju (Soviet) Street on the bank of the river Tebra, nostalgic moods take over and memories of sadness.

I look at empty places of buildings like a toothless mouth and I want to turn away ... However, there is no use to blame anyone. This is the World Order - we born and die by ourselves. Our sorrows intertwine with joys and daily haste, but in the end, everything is covered with a layer of dust of oblivion.

I realize that it is so pleasant to immerse yourself in memories, listen to stories and explore old town postcards. I study, I remember, I compare and I suddenly realize that there has to be someone who keeps Aizpute's face as it is today. It is not in my power to restore the Old Castle; I can only preserve it for future generations my Aizpute in photos.

It is even more exciting to try to re-photograph the old Aizpute postcards as they look today. Glad that my photos can complement the postcard descriptions of our Aizpute history researcher Ivars Silārs, creating a beautiful portrait of the town for a length of a century.