IN the heart of Latvia's dense forests lies the ghostly remains of an abandoned Soviet town that once stood as a secret sentinel of the Cold War era. Conceived in the tense atmosphere of the 1960s, Skrunda-1 was built to house the operators of an early warning radar system, designed to detect incoming missiles from the West. For decades, the clandestine city was shrouded in secrecy, with its very existence denied by Soviet authorities.
At its peak, Skrunda-1 was a bustling, self-contained community with everything a small city might need: schools, shops, a hospital and apartment buildings. Yet, this wasn't a city of typical civilians. Its residents were all military personnel and their families, living under constant surveillance and strict regulations in true Soviet fashion.
Life in Skrunda-1 revolved around the giant radar towers that loomed over the city, their antennas sweeping the Russian skies in an unending quest for potential threats. The heart of Skrunda-1 was its radar systems, most notably the Dnepr radar, a colossal structure that dominated the skyline. The radar emitted a constant, low hum, a reminder of the city’s primary purpose.
At night, the eerie glow of lights from the radar installations gave the city an otherworldly aura, casting long shadows over the deserted streets and the surrounding forest. In 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union marked the beginning of the end for Skrunda-1, some 150 km from capital city Riga. As Latvia regained its independe.
