File:Rīga – Michael Barclay de Tolly, Memorial.jpg

English: To commemorate the first centenary of the 7 October 1812 Victory of Borodino over the napoléonic invador, a competion was launched which Wilhelm Wandschneider (1866-1942) won. The memorial he submitted was unveiled at Riga one year later, on October 12, 1913. The ceremony also associated the commemoration of the first centenary of the 18 October 1813 Victory of Leipzig (Battle of the Nations, Völkerschlacht).

In 1915, the statue, like many other bronze monuments and church bells, was taken away and melted down for WWI military usage. (Another, sketchy, account maintains that the ship carrying the statue to safety was sunk, without precision.)

Only the plinth survived : it bears the name, title and dates : Генералъ Фельдмаршалъ // князъ // Баркла́й-де-То́лли (General Field Marshal // Prince // Barclay de Tolly) on the front panel (see ► File:1912 Barclay de Tolly statue, plinthe – Rīga.jpg), and 1812 and 1912 on the left and right sides respectively.

After WWI, Latvia, having just regained its independence (lost to Czarist Russia since 1721), did not show much enthusiasm to replace a statue of a former Russian military officer, albeit Freedom Fighter.

Only in 2001 was the lost statue recreated thanks to private donations and on the basis of photographs and a little plaster model of the original, and presented to the City of Riga (see also ► File:Rīga – Michael Barclay de Tolly, plaque.jpg).

Today, the new statue of General Field Marshal Prince Barclay de Tolly (1761-1818) is erected at its present location since 1st of July 2002.

Bibliography :
U. Thieme, F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, Bd 35, 1942, 144
For a more detailled historical account : [1]