Latvia’s capital, and the largest city in the Baltics, Riga isn’t as immediately appealing as Estonia’s Tallinn but is home to some great museums, lots of grand buildings, and even more churches.
The House of the Black Heads is a good place to start, as the home of the guild that helped bring Riga to prominence as part of the Hanseatic League. It has a beautiful facade, representing different aspects of the guild. The current building dates from 2001, as the 1344 original was badly damaged during WW2 and later demolished by the Soviets.
Inside there are replicas of the main entertaining spaces, not strictly historically accurate but still quite impressive.
In the basement are remains of the foundations and information on the history of the guild and building.
Across the town square is the quite different Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, telling the chilling story of the half century of Soviet occupation of Latvia. The museum is deliberately claustrophobic and strongly lit to create an atmosphere appropriate to the subject matter.
Even more powerful was taking a tour of The Corner House, a former police station used by the KGB to interrogate thousands of political enemies, and execute hundreds on site.
There was more devastation at the surprisingly large Latvian War Museum, housed in a 14th century tower, which included displays on the conflict in Ukraine.
Disturbing in another way was the RSU Anatomy Museum. I could cope with the skulls and bones, but struggled more with things in jars, particularly the fetuses’ (including Siamese twins) in the basement (where thankfully photography is not allowed).
The dark theme continued with the powerful Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum, which on minimal funding was more effective than a number of other Holocaust museums I’ve visited around the world.
Near the museum is the Riga Great Choral Synagogue Holocaust Monument, which includes the foundations of the synagogue that was burnt down by the Nazis, with hundreds of Jews inside.
The Holocaust museum had models of the many synagogues that used to exist in Riga. Only the Synagogue Peitav Shul survived, as it was next to other buildings in the Old Town to which fire would have spread. It is a beautiful place, built in 1905, and thankfully still in use.
Some of the best views of the city can be found from the 17th floor of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, a very Soviet 1961 building which took ten years to build.
The nearby Riga Central Markets make excellent use of former zeppelin hangers, now filled with fish, meat, cheeses, other foods and non-food, though when I visited at the end of the day they had mostly closed up for the day.
An icon of Latvia, the Freedom Monument was built to commemorate Latvian independence (before the Soviets arrived).
The nearby Bastejkalna Park was attractive, and home to the spectacular Riga Nativity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral built in 1884. Photography isn’t allowed inside, but it is a huge space, restored after Soviet rule when it was used as a planetarium.
Just up the road is another orthodox church (again with no photography allowed), the very yellow St. Alexander Nevsky Church.
Photography was allowed inside the 19th century Riga Old Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Gertrude.
The Skyline bar on the 26th floor of the Radisson hotel also has great views of the city, though I learnt that it wasn’t open at 10am, so just got the view in one direction from the lift.
Vērmane Gardens were pleasant, as was the riverside by the Latvian National Opera.
Riga is known for its Art Nouveau architecture, with many a building adored by giant heads and faces.
The Old Town isn’t consistent as Tallinn’s, with more recent buildings thanks to damage in WW2, the Soviets, and other developments, but there are still plenty of attractive heritage buildings.
The Three Brothers, a trio of 15th century buildings, are the best known.
To finish with some of the many churches in the Old Town, starting with the 13th century St. Peter’s Church, the oldest in the city, close to the town square, with an impressive spire.
The huge Riga Cathedral dates from the 13th century and is the largest medieval church in the Baltics.
Our Lady of Sorrows Church was the first new church built after the Reformation arrived in Latvia.
They built a lot of churches in Riga in the 13th century! Saint Mary Magdalene Church of Riga is another one, though has an interesting history starting life as a Catholic Church, turning into a Lutheran Church in the 17th century, an Orthodox Church in the 18th century, before returning to a Catholic Church in the 20th century.
St. Jacob’s Catholic Cathedral of Riga had a similar history. Built in the 13th century as Catholic, converted to Lutheran, then given to the Jesuits, then back to the Lutherans, and finally back to Catholic.
