Key facts

• Art Nouveau district (Alberta iela and surroundings): the most concentrated collection of Art Nouveau architecture in the world — approximately 800 Art Nouveau and Jugendstil buildings survive in Riga, mostly in the Centrs district (immediately east of the medieval old town), built between 1896 and 1913 during Riga’s industrial boom as the largest port in the Russian Empire; the most spectacular buildings are on Alberta iela (Alberta Street), Elizabetes iela, and Strēlnieku iela, designed primarily by the Latvian architect Mikhail Eisenstein (1867–1921 — father of the film director Sergei Eisenstein) whose extraordinarily ornate façades in the Eclectic Art Nouveau style (combining Jugendstil flower and female-face decoration with Classical pediments, Egyptian sphinxes, and Baroque putti) are the most exuberant examples of the style anywhere in Europe; the Riga Art Nouveau Museum (Alberta iela 12) occupies a Mikhail Eisenstein building exactly as it appeared in 1903
• Riga Cathedral (Rīgas Doms, founded 1211): the largest medieval religious building in the Baltic States and the seat of the Archbishop of Riga — founded in 1211 by Bishop Albert on the site of the first German settlement in Riga, the cathedral was built over 500 years in an accumulation of Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque styles that reflects every major period of Baltic history; the cloister (approximately 1300, the oldest part of the cathedral complex) contains a lapidarium of medieval stone sculpture; the organ (1882–1884, by E.F. Walcker & Co. of Ludwigsburg) was the largest organ in the world when installed (today the 10th largest in Europe, with 6,768 pipes); the cathedral’s interior is remarkable for the scale of the Gothic nave (the widest in the Baltics) and the Baroque pulpit (1641, carved wood)
• Riga Castle (Rīgas pils, 1330, rebuilt 15th century): the seat of the Livonian Order of Knights and now the official residence of the President of Latvia — the current castle is largely a 15th–16th century reconstruction of the original 1330 fortification (the original was burned multiple times in the conflicts between the Order of Knights and the city burghers); the castle houses the National History Museum of Latvia, the National Art Museum, and the Presidential Office; the outdoor terrace on the Daugava River side gives one of the best views of the river and the old town
• Three Brothers (Trīs brāļi): the oldest surviving residential buildings in Riga and a unique sequence of architectural periods in a single streetscape — three medieval burgher houses at Mazā Pils iela 17, 19, and 21 form a continuous façade that spans four centuries of domestic architecture: No. 17 (“The White Brother”, the oldest stone dwelling house in Riga, built approximately 1490 in the late Gothic style — the only surviving example of a Gothic burgher house in Riga, now the Riga Architecture Museum), No. 19 (“The Yellow Brother”, 17th century Dutch Renaissance style), and No. 21 (“The Green Brother”, 18th century Baroque with Art Nouveau details added in 1900); the ensemble is the most complete illustration of Riga’s domestic architectural history in a single location
• Central Market (Rīgas Centrāltirgus, 1924–1930): the largest market in the European Union and one of the greatest examples of interwar industrial repurposing — built in five former Zeppelin hangars (used to house German military airships during World War I, transported from the airship station at Vaiņode to Riga after the war) and repurposed as a food market covering approximately 72,300 m²; the five pavilions (meat, dairy, fish, vegetables, and general goods) are connected by a covered arcade and together form a market complex that serves approximately 80,000 customers per day; the hangars’ curved steel roofs are impressive structural achievements; the market is a UNESCO listed property within the Riga inscription
• Heritage: UNESCO World Heritage Site, Historic Centre of Riga, inscribed 1997
• GPS: 56.9460° N, 24.1059° E