[5] The centre of assembly houses a black granite cube – a symbolic altar with engraving from Book of Job 16:18 "Earth, don't cover my blood.

[4][5][7] The unique rough-hewn 0.2-to-1.5-metre (0.66 to 4.92 ft) high granite stones of black, gray, and reddish colors come from Zhytomyr region in Ukraine.

[10] Despite the nature of memorial, the surrounding hills are a popular summer hiking and winter sledding and skiing location.

[14][15][16][17] In 2011, two people, including a member of the Socialist Party of Latvia (who was immediately expelled), were caught after spraying a stylized image of a Nazi, swastikas and text in Latvian on the entrance arc on May 8.

[19][20] Biķernieki forest is Latvia's biggest mass murder site during The Holocaust of World War II during years 1941–44.

[4] About 46,500 people were reported to have been killed there, including Latvian and Western European Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, and Nazis' political adversaries.

This prompted the Riga government headed by Alfrēds Rubiks to provide finances for development and creation of infrastructure around Biķernieki.

[3][5] The project received Riga City Council's approval and state funding and the works continued until 1991 when the current government was dissolved after Latvia regained its independence.

[5] The project was revived in 1993–94 by the initiative of Eric Herzl, an expert from Austrian Society of Memorials, who obtained the permission from Riga City Council to continue the construction work.

[a][8][25] The chapter was formed to plan and build a war memorial in Biķernieki forest to commemorate the Jews deported and killed at the start of the 1940s.

[26][28][29] The event was well attended, including the Latvian Prime Minister Andris Bērziņš, Latvian chief rabbi Natans Barkans, officials and ambassadors from various countries, former ghetto and concentration camp inmates, and relatives of the victims from Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Austria, and Russia.

[7] The architect Sergejs Rižs says he attempted to show the idea of the memorial with a "concise language of architectural forms".

[2] Art historian Solvita Krese called the project successful and lauded the design for avoiding exaggeration of themes at hand.