SEE & DO
HOUSE OF THE BLACKHEADS: The
most potent symbol of how Riga’s old town
has been dolled up is this ornate ediice,
which was wrecked in two stages — during
the Second World War and during Soviet
occupation. The Dutch Renaissance
guild house, all ziggurat-esque sides and
decorative twiddliness, was rebuilt and
reopened in 2001. melngalvjunams.lv
THE PARK ‘MOAT’: A series of parks, with a
canal running through them, turns the old
town into something of an island. These
parks are fantastic to hang out in, but also
full of little oddities, including the memorial
stones to those killed during the Soviet
attack of January 1991 and the man-made,
snail-like Bastejkalns hillock. Keep an eye
out for beavers in the evening.
BOAT CRUISES: The canal can be combined
with the Daugava River for a leisurely,
looping pootle around the old town. There
are several grand (and borderline absurd)
monuments to ogle, but the west bank of the
Daugava is home to a host striking modern
buildings — including the love-it-or-hate-it
National Library Building, which looks a bit
like a giant glass shoe. rigabycanal.lv
RIGA GHETTO AND LATVIAN HOLOCAUST
MUSEUM: Part of the former Jewish ghetto
has had its warehouse district illed with
cafes and galleries, but this free, largely
open-air museum commemorates wartime
horrors. The replica train carriage, full of
information on the systematic transportation
to concentration camps and execution sites,
is particularly sobering. rgm.lv
MUSEUM OF THE OCCUPATION OF LATVIA:
Continue the tour through Latvian history
with this well-presented journey through
Nazi and Soviet occupation. Resistance
movements, families split with sons ighting
on three sides and mass deportations to
the Siberian gulags are all on the menu.
okupacijasmuzejs.lv
LATVIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: It’s hard to
miss this clunking great Soviet throwback in
the Moscow District. A dramatic example of
tiered Stalinist architecture, the building is
also home to an open-air observation deck
that afords fabulous 360-degree views over
the pancake-lat city. lza.lv
ART NOUVEAU DISTRICT: Many of Riga’s 800-
plus art nouveau buildings are concentrated
north of the old town. Some of the most
audacious are on Elizabetes iela and Alberta
iela, with the most detailed, lamboyant
masterworks by Mikhail Eisenstein. Riga
Trips runs walking tours here. rigatrips.lv
ART NOUVEAU MUSEUM: This museum
— ittingly housed in one of the city’s most
lavish art nouveau buildings — is a must for
admirers of the style. It’s handled well, with
lots of touchscreen information, while the
period apartment adorned with furniture
and window decoration is outrageously
sumptuous. Don’t forget to look up the
spiralling staircase, too. jugendstils.riga.lvFamily ties // he most lavish art nouveau buildings in
Riga are the handiwork of architect Mikhail Eisenstein, and
creative genes clearly ran in the family. Mikhail’s son Sergei
was a cinema pioneer, with his movie Battleship Potemkin
regularly named as one of the most inluential ilms in history,
and his use of montage becoming a ilm theory staple
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: House of the
Blackheads; locals enjoying summer on
the banks of the City Canal; rolls of wool
in traditional wool shop Hobbywool
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Museum of ArtRIGA142 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel
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