Private Tour: Highlights of Riga and Art Nouveau Museum

This museum is housed in an apartment where one of Latvia’s best art nouveau architects once lived – Konstantīns Pēkšēns. The prolific artist and engineer who was responsible for the creation of no less than 250 buildings in Riga also designed this impressive edifice. The historic house was also home to the illustrious painter Janis Rozentāls and the writer Rūdolfs Blaumanis to whom another museum is dedicated on the top floor. View period furniture and artwork from one of the Latvian capital’s most creative eras. A must see. Don't miss the grand staircase!

The Cat House is named for two black felines perched on the points of its towers. Not only did the beasts curse their first sculptor, he fatally fell while putting them up, but their purpose was to cause trouble. Roughly 100 years ago, the Latvian owner of the building was excluded from the powerful Big Guild across the road by its ethnocentric German occupants. He ordered the cats to be turned around, backside up, as an insult to his enemies. They were turned around after a lengthy court battle and he was eventually admitted to the Guild.

The Daugava embankment is a favorite place for walking not only among tourists, but also among the citizens of the capital. The frozen expanse of water, the ripples of night lights and paving stones underfoot only occasionally remind vacationers of days gone by, when the port of Riga broke the hanging silence with its cheerful noise.

One of Riga's architectural treasures, the House of Blackheads was erected in 1344, but was embellished and expanded in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. It was destroyed in 1941 and its ruins were completely demolished by the Soviets in 1948, but it finally rose from the ashes in the late 1990s in keeping with the medieval saying above its entrance that states 'if I should fall, build me again'. A striking Gothic building with a Dutch Renaissance facade, it was used to house single members of the merchants' guild who were also notorious revellers of their day. It's even rumoured that their parties and feasts were often attended by European royalty in disguise.

This spectacular edifice sandwiched between Old Riga and the Riga canal was erected in 1863, but was largely destroyed by a gas leak, which resulted in a devastating fire in 1882. Thankfully, the building was restored to architect Ludwig Bohnstedt’s original design and reopened five years later, but this time with a state-of-the-art technology called electricity. The new opera included the city’s very first electric power station, whose tall smoke stack is still visible today. The building and its unmistakable ionic columns were completely refurbished once again in the early 1990s and a new annex with 300 seats was added in 2001. The opera is also surrounded by beautiful gardens that include a fountain with a bronze statue.

The Old Town is the oldest section of Riga as well as the center of the city. It is the city’s most popular area with tourists. In 1997, Riga's historic center was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Old Town has highly diverse architecture, and the majority of buildings have the status of a cultural monument. The city's architecture represents various periods - Romanticism, Gothic, Baroque, Classicism, and Modernism. After the restoration of the independence of Latvia, many buildings in the Old Town were reconstructed or rebuilt to restore the historic look of the area. The most impressive buildings in the Old Town are the Riga Cathedral and St. Peter's Church, offering a wonderful panoramic view on the city of Riga from a 72 meter observational tower.

Built in 1330 as a base for the Livonian Order, the castle was destroyed several times during battles with the local townspeople. After the Order's destruction, the various occupiers of the city housed their governors inside. Latvia's first post-Cold War president Guntis Ulmanis made it his official office to continue the tradition begun by Latvia's interwar presidents in the 1920s and 1930s. It also once housed the National History Museum of Latvia, but tragically, a fire broke out during renovations on June 21, 2013 and parts of the interior were gutted. It has since been renovated and Latvia's president works and greets dignitaries here.

The largest place of worship in the Baltics, measuring 187 x 43m, with walls two metres thick, Riga Cathedral also has one of the biggest organs in Europe (6,718 pipes!). It was such a marvel in its day that Franz Liszt composed a piece of music in its honour. The drop from Cathedral Square (Doma laukums) to the church's base shows how the level of the city has risen in the eight centuries since its foundations were laid on the site of a Livonian fishing village in 1211.

Not unlike other Hanseatic cities across the Baltic Sea region, Riga has had a representation of Roland, the semi-fictional paladin of Charlemagne’s court, since medieval times. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that a permanent statue of this protector figure was erected on Town Hall Square. The real Roland was a close confidant of the Holy Roman Emperor and died at the Battle of Roncevaux in 778. He was later glorified in the so-called Matter of France, a work of medieval literature that painted the military man as a just protector of the people. The current statue is a replica of the original, which is housed a short walk away in St. Peter’s Church, and includes a drinking fountain at its base.

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 is N°17 and dates back to the 15th century. The other two were built in the 17th and 18th centuries, respectively. Unfortunately, not much is known about the history of these abodes, including who owned them. The Latvian Museum of Architecture is located in building N°19.