Independence Restoration Day in Latvia commemorates the 1990 declaration restoring Latvia's independence from Soviet rule, honoring the nation's courage, unity and peaceful path toward freedom and democracy.

When is Independence Restoration Day?

Independence Restoration Day in Latvia is celebrated on May 4 every year.

The following is the list of Independence Restoration Day from 2020 to 2049.

The History of Independence Restoration Day?

Latvia first gained independence on November 18, 1918, following World War I and the collapse of the Russian Empire. However, this independence was short-lived.

In June 1940, under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Latvia was occupied and annexed by the USSR. The following decades brought mass deportations, political repression, and suppression of Latvian culture and identity.

By the late 1980s, the Soviet Union began to weaken. These reforms gave rise to national movements across the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) calling for greater autonomy and eventually full independence.

In Latvia, the Popular Front of Latvia, founded in 1988, became the main political force advocating for sovereignty. The movement emphasized peaceful protest, national unity, and cultural revival, symbolized by the restoration of the Latvian flag, language, and songs of freedom.

On August 23, 1989, approximately two million people from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia joined hands to form a 600-kilometer human chain known as the Baltic Way, spanning from Vilnius to Tallinn.

On May 4, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic convened in Riga and passed the Declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia". The document declared that Latvia's 1940 annexation by the USSR was illegal, and it restored the authority of the 1922 Latvian Constitution.

Although the May 4 declaration marked the legal restoration of independence, the transition was gradual. The Soviet Union initially refused to recognize the declaration, and tensions escalated throughout 1990–1991. After the failed Moscow coup in August 1991, Latvia finally regained full de facto independence on August 21, 1991, completing the process that began on May 4, 1990.

Independence Restoration Day is one of Latvia's most important civic observances, symbolizing peaceful resistance, national unity and the triumph of democracy.