Tour of Riga, Latvia

Riga Town Hall, in the Town Hall Square (Ratslaukums) is situated in the very heart of the City.

The Riga Town Hall used to look over the main market place of Riga. That Market was moved closer to the port in the 16th century.

The new market was rebuilt in 1930 and named Riga Central Market, it is now the Baltic's largest market selling practically everything.

Most of the tourist attractions are situated within a short walk of the Town Hall Square in the old part of Riga.

The House of the Blackheads is a building also situated in the Town Hall Square. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of the Blackheads Guild, a guild for unmarried foreign merchants in Riga.

The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28th 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999.

The interior of the building serves as a place for arranging celebrations, presentations, conferences, special evenings, balls and concerts.

The church by the square is St. Peter's Church, one of the highest buildings in the old town. It was first built in 1209 as a church for the people. It was enlarged at the beginning of 15th century.

There are about 50 museums in Riga, with the most popular being the Museum of Occupation, housed in a startling dark grey, box-shaped building in the middle of Riga's Town Hall Square.

The Occupation Museum includes exhibitions of documents leading to Latvia's occupation, events of the two Soviet occupations and the intervening Nazi occupation, and the struggle that resulted in Latvian independence on August 21st 1991.

Displays range from listening bugs that were found built in to hotels around Riga, through letters home from prisoner-of-war camps, to stunning photos of the protests and celebrations at the time of independence.

A view from St. Peter's Church shows the Town Hall below, The Dome Cathedral, River Daugava and the Shroud Bridge.

This is one of five bridges crossing the Daugava in Riga; it is 595 meters long, built during the Soviet period and opened to public use in 1981 as the Gorky Bridge.

The Dome Cathedral is the oldest and grandest church in Latvia. All the major historical events are related to the Dome cathedral. It was built on site of dwelling of the Liv fishermen, when the process of christening was about to end.

It was reconstructed and enlarged several times according to the architecture tendencies of different times, and as a consequence became a composite of such architectural styles as late Romanesque (the altar), early Gothic (Basilica) and Baroque (the spire).

Also, the Dome Cathedral is famous for its organ made in 1884 by the German company E.F. Walker & Co. At that time, the organ was the largest in the world.Today, the cathedral has its own parish, Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, and a concert hall.

The view from St. Peter's Church now has modern rivals, the Skyline Bar, a lively cocktail lounge on the 26th floor of Reval Hotel Latvija, as seen right, and the Star Lounge on the top floor of the Albert Hotel.

These hotels are situated close to the centre of the Old Town with great views over the city.

The Statue of Liberty is both a symbol of independence of Latvia and a piece of art situated in the centre of Riga.

It is dedicated to the fighting of the Latvian people for independence and its longing for freedom.

It was open for public November 18th 1935.

The woman represents Freedom and she holds three stars in her hands - a symbol for historical and cultural areas of Latvia.

The Riga Orthodox Cathedral was built between 1876 and 1884. It turned into a planetarium during the soviet era, 1944 to 1991.

The interior needed be renovated and rebuilt after destruction by the Soviets during World War II.

Situated in the centre of Riga between the Statue of Liberty and the Reval Hotel Latvija.

Riga's Opera House was one of the first buildings to get a full make-over following the ousting of the Soviets in 1991.

Why? Because Latvians consider the opera an enormously important part of their cultural heritage, and they were determined that the new Opera House would spearhead their drive towards recreating their national identity.

If however opera 'ain't your thing', you can also enjoy an excellent ballet in the opulent, gold-leafed tiers of this resplendent building.

Situated in the centre of Riga close to the Freedom Monument.

The Ethnographic Open Air Museum is a place where you can see "Latvian life as it used to be lived.

Set on 100 hectares of open wooded area, you can indeed visit 121 traditional objects, among them a number of craftsmen's workshops.

Take Auto diesel bus # 1 from Riga Center about 30 minutes travel time.

More Information.

The Riga Aviation Museum was developed over the past 40 years. It became a private museum in 1997 without any support from the Latvian state.

This aviation museum is unique in the Baltic countries and one of the largest in Europe. Its collection of Soviet aircraft is also the greatest outside the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The museum is situated next to Riga International Airport. The working hours are from 9 am to 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday by previous request.

Rundale Palace is the most important palace in Latvia, situated about 80 km or 50 miles south of Riga.

It was constructed in the 1730s to a design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli as a summer residence of Ernst Johann von Biron, the Duke of Courland.After Courland was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795, Catherine the Great presented the palace to her lover, Prince Zubov, who spent his declining years there.

His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz, a local landowner's daughter, remarried Count Shuvalov, thus bringing the palace to the Shuvalov family, with whom it remained until the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The palace is now one of the major tourist destinations in Latvia. It is also used for the accommodation of notable guests, such as the leaders of foreign nations. The palace and the surrounding gardens are now a museum.

For information on day tours to Rundale Palace, or other Latvian attractions, visit the website: .www.travel-library.com/tours/europe/latvia/riga.

More Information . Latvia Map.

For more information on Riga, visit: www.aroundlatvia.lv