A Latvian fairy tale destined for the stars

Oct 21, 1999
By Benjamin Smith

RIGA - Latvia is uncommonly well suited to fairy tales, being nearly half covered by dense, wet forests. And the story told by astronomer Juris Zagars starts out like a fairy tale, in the dark woods of Latvia's southern coast.Zagars, 50 years old, slim and bespectacled, normally works in a small, book-filled office at the very top of Latvijas University. One winter's day in 1993, the academic was shown a secret map, and he followed it to a ghost town in the forest. He walked through deserted str ...

forgot password?