In our extensive coverage of Struve sites, the Latvian locations so far have been underexposed. On my recent road trip across Latvia I used the quirky city of Jekabpils for an overnight stop – it is large enough to have amenities such as a decent hotel, ánd it has a Struve location in the city center.

The marker is located in a small park, renamed “Struve Park” in 1992 after it had been known as Pushkin Park during Soviet times. The ‘shrine’ looks well cared for. From the information panel (upper photo) we learn that this site was measured by Struve and his team in May-June 1826 and that the process to determine the correct astronomical point took 3 weeks.

Struve put a brick post here with an iron pole in the centre, and the surrounding area was fenced off. In 1931 a 42m high wooden tower was built above the Struve point, which subsequently was used by Latvian scientists and students. Both historic markers have since disappeared; nowadays there are three markers next to each other: the small obelisk with a copper WHS plaque that we also know from other locations,  a granite stone dating from 1931 that was put on top of the damaged original one by a local science teacher, and an artist’s sculpture from 2008 symbolizing a triangulation tower.

And the Struve excitement wasn't over yet: on my way to a supermarket at the other end of Jekabpils city center, my eye fell upon a huge mural (lower photo) painted on the side of one of the houses. It commemorates the Struve World Heritage Site in probably the most original way of the whole set, like a gigantic plaque. They obviously really love the man here! If the town had souvenir shops, they would surely sell Struve T-shirts and miniature triangulation points.

The other Latvian location, Sestukalns, lies about 50km outside of Jekabpils. It takes quite a detour from the main road and it was raining heavily when I was in the area so I skipped it. But from what I gathered from a Tripadvisor review that one is of the typical ‘lonely stone marker on a hill’-type – the nomination file calls it “drill hole in rock”, and it is the original rock.