Sightseeing

    Sightseeing in Riga

Riga sightseeing is made easy by the fact that most of the sights are handily located within a compact area on one bank of the Daugava River. As the number of tourists visiting the city has grown, dedicated signs now point the way to the main attractions. Whether its medieval architecture and cobble stone streets you're after or extravagant Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) buildings and manicured 19th-century parks, there are plenty of attractions in Riga for all tastes. Explore what's left of the city's Soviet legacy or take a tour of Dome Cathedral, the largest house of worship in the Baltics. The cornerstone for the Dome Cathedral, which is the seat of the archbishop of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church, was laid on 1211. The architecture of the church includes elements of early gothic, baroque and other styles, but the main building and the attached cloister form a harmonic ensemble nevertheless.

Tourist attractions & sights in Riga

The Old Town overflows with things to see, but one of the real pleasures is just wandering around the cobbled streets, taking an architectural journey through the centuries, in a city where gothic, Renaissance and art nouveau abound. Well known Riga sights include the voluminous religious twins of St Peter's Church and Dome Cathedral, both worth exploring in detail. Neatly dividing the Old Town and New Town is Bastejkalns Park, with its canal, cafes and walkways. In the middle of the park is the Freedom Monument, one of Riga's most poignant sites, a symbol of both the nation's fight for nationhood and the four decades of resistance to Communist rule. Also nice Riga sightseeing trips are the boat cruises on the Daugava River and excursions to the Baltic Sea resort of Jurmala. With its sweeping pine flanked beaches, Jurmala provides the perfect escape if all that history and culture gets too much.

Riga other sights

Some other Riga sights well worth a visit are Riga Castle, The Three Brothers and The House of Blackheads. Riga castle, currently the home of Latvia’s president, was built in 1330 as a residential building. It was destroyed several times over the centuries, which is why today it hasn’t got many medieval features left. The Three Brothers are the oldest stone residential buildings in the city and represent different stages in the architectural development of Riga, from medieval to Baroque. The oldest of the three dates back to the 15th century. The other two were respectively built in the 17th and 18th centuries. The House of Blackheads was first mentioned in 1334. It was originally a place for citizen gatherings; later (in the 15th century) the Riga council rented the main hall to the Blackhead Brotherhood - a union of young unmarried foreign merchants. The Blackheads used the building for representative needs and also stored goods there. The House of Blackheads was severely damaged during bomb-attacks in 1941 and it was decided not to reconstruct it after the war. However, in 2001, before Riga's 800th anniversary, it was rebuilt and is now one of the most visited attractions in Riga.

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