My Christmas Pilgrimage To Mark Rothko’s Latvia

I took the scenic route to Daugavpils, birthplace of the abstract artist – a world of breathtaking colour, kindness and cold

It’s a funny time of year to be visiting Latvia’s second city, Daugavpils, in the far south-east of the country. It’s midwinter and an icy blast has swept across northern Europe, bringing with it some of the coldest temperatures Latvia has experienced in a decade. On my third and final night, I set a new personal best, or worst, of -30C, and all that matters now is survival.

Daugavpils is one of the most ethnically Russian cities inside the European Union today, a fifth of the population being Latvian, while half are ethnic Russians. During the Soviet occupation, Moscow sent tens of thousands of Russians to live in Latvia, as well as to other parts of the Soviet Union.