 The guards are required to be at least tall and in good health, as they are required to stand without moving for half an hour.After the end of World War II, there were plans to demolish the monument, although little written evidence is available to historians and research is largely based on oral testimony.On September 29, 1949 (although according to oral testimony, the issue was first raised as early as October 1944) the Council of People's Commissars of the Latvian SSR proposed the restoration of the statue of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great.