A jewel among the capitals of Europe – its historical centre is a Unesco World Heritage Site – Riga is a treasure trove for lovers of history and culture, as well as bustling slice of modernity, writes LORRAINE COURTNEY
GOETHE ONCE said good architecture is like “frozen music”. If it is, then Riga’s collection of art nouveau buildings is a symphony of enchanting harmonies locked in stone. Riga was spared the bombing that destroyed so many of Germany’s finest Art Nouveau structures, leaving a grand parade of buildings, orchestral explosions of ornate buttresses, gilded facades, gargoyles, nymphs, satyrs and elaborate animal, shell, flower and human motifs. Huddling between this architectural feast are coffee houses, quirky boutiques, restaurants, buzzing bars and clubs that have made Riga the Baltic’s favourite party town.
The city was established in 1201 and grew rich as a Hanseatic trading port, with commercial interests stretching all the way to the West Indies. But wealth breeds envy, and over its 800-year history, Russia, Germany, Sweden and Poland have all fought for control of the city. Even today, Latvians are in the minority in Riga, outnumbered by ethnic Russians.
From the mid-1800s to the early 20th century, a landed class of merchants and shippers transformed Riga into one of northern Europe’s most prosperous trading centres, with dazzling architecture to match.
The Old Town has a Toytown, film-set feel, partly due to the lack of cars, partly to its wealth of weird and wonderful legends – such as the one about the bell on St Jacob’s church, which supposedly rings every time an unfaithful wife passes underneath.
The labyrinthine streets are so narrow you can scarcely breathe as you pass among the crow-stepped gables, intricate tiling and superb stone carvings.
Keep your eyes fixed firmly above you. Even the rooftops have stories to tell. The yellow-painted “Cat House” for instance, on the edge of Philharmonic Square, with its feline figures on the roof, backsides facing the Great Guild across the road. They were placed there by an angry owner after his application to join the guild was rejected – the medieval equivalent of an up-yours sign.
Walking Riga’s art nouveau streets is one of the city’s most compelling charms. Reacting against Victorian sensibilities, these architects and designers utilised flowing lines, futuristic elements and wildly creative flourishes in their work.
The city’s art nouveau era had three distinct phases: the earliest years saw the “decorative eclectic” style, with its extremely exaggerated ornamental trimmings. This was followed by a more restrained “rational” form, in which stylised historical motifs from Renaissance and Gothic periods were applied. Finally, from 1905 to 1911, Riga architects worked to create a uniquely Latvian style of design. This became known as National Romanticism, and can be seen in the heavily accentuated roofs, folk-style ornaments and shapes which find their inspiration in traditional wooden structures.
Some of the most eclectic structures were created by Mikhail Eisenstein (art nouveau maestro and father of Battleship Potemkindirector Sergei), whose imagination took flight with decorative lines, circles, flower motifs, garlands, winged beasts, female beauties and windows of extraordinary form. His best designs line Albert and Elizabetes Street.
But no city is all dazzle. A few blocks from the centre, historic buildings quickly give way to newer, high-rise apartments and office buildings. Bolderja, a Russian-speaking enclave of Soviet-style apartments, to the northwest of the city centre, could easily be a corner of Moscow.
The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia occupies an imposing black box of a building in the heart of Riga. It tells the story of Latvia’s time inside the Soviet Union. The museum is crammed with paraphernalia from the city’s five decades under Nazi and Soviet rule: secret listening devices taken from the walls of the Hotel Riga; dispatches from Latvians deported to Siberia; poignant photographs of the 590km human chain of protesters that snaked through Riga and across the Baltics in 1989. An anonymous inscription in the museum reads: “They took it all – our native land, our honour and our name. They punished us for being human beings.”
If you want to escape the city, head for Jurmala. It’s a peculiar place; 14 separate hamlets squashed into the narrow space between a curve of the river Lielupe and the sea. Although just 20km outside Riga, Jurmala would have remained a backwater but for the discovery of more than 30 sulphur springs. The springs impressed Tsar Nicholas I (Latvia was under its first Russian occupation) so much that he opened a state bathing establishment in 1838.
Sanatoria and spa hotels followed, as did strings of gaudy wooden summer houses. Exotic, eclectic, from neoclassical to art nouveau, Renaissance to Gothic, in mouth-watering ice-cream colours, these houses are pure fairy tale. Castellated and turreted mansions sit next to Hansel and Gretel cottages, all overhanging eaves and lacework verandas.
The coast road ends abruptly at Cape Kolka. This is Latvia’s Land’s End, where the Gulf of Riga meets the Baltic Sea. In Soviet times, sensitive military installations turned it into a largely no-go area, and residents had to carry identification papers at all times. Today, it still has an eerie, end-of-the-world feel. There’s no racket of signs pointing out distances to global capitals, just a low, rocky promontory where the waves from the east wove between those from the west.
In the 19th-century Latvian epic poem Lacplesis, the eponymous hero plunges into the river Daugava during a struggle. Legend has it that Lacplesis, the White Knight, will some day rise again, bringing with him the Castle of Light. Today's buzzing nightlife and economic fortunes show that this cool Baltic beauty, which once grew rich on the trade in honey, amber, wax and timber, has indeed surfaced to face a bright new world.
Go there
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) and Air Baltic (www.airbaltic.com) fly direct from Dublin to Riga
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go on a visit to Riga Riga hot spots
5 places to stay
Hotel Bergs. 83-85 Elisabetes, 00-371-7-770900, hotelbergs.com. Riga’s smartest boutique hotel, with enormous rooms and a superb restaurant. Rooms start at €175.
The Ainavas Hotel. 23 Peldu, 00-371-7-814316, ainavas.lv. A stylish option. Rooms from €120.
Konventa Seta. 9-11 Kaleju, 00-371-7-087501, www.koventa.lv. Traditional comforts are to be had in this 13th-century former convent with oak beams and genial service. Doubles start at €80.
The Forums. 45 Valnu, 00-371-7-814680, hotelforums.lv. An affordable, central hotel with lovely river views. Rooms from €78.
Radi un draugi. 1/3 Marstalu, 00-371-7-820200, draugi.lv. A great budget option in the heart of Old Riga’s cobbled chic. Doubles from €65.
5 places to eat
Lido Atputas Centrs. 76 Krasta, 00-371-7-504420, www.ac.lido.lv. If you want to sample a range of national dishes, then head to this huge, buffet-like arrangement, which is always busy.
Staburags. 55 Caka, 00-371-7-299787. This beer hall maze houses a restaurant serving affordable Latvian cuisine.
Kiploku Kroga. 3-5 Jekaba, 00-371-7-211451. “The Garlic Pub” is popular with Riga’s young things and, as the name suggests, almost every dish is prepared with garlic. Even the ice cream.
Palete. 12/14 Gleznotaju, 00-371-7-216037. Good international menus are available here. Specialises in Baltic seafood.
Lotoss. 7 Skanu, 00-371-7-212665. Great option for vegetarians.
5 places to go
Occupation Museum. 1 Strelnieku laukums, 00-371-7-212715, occupationmuseum.lv. This well-presented museum traces both the brief Nazi occupation and the decades of Soviet rule.
The Dome Cathedral (Doma laukums). With its soaring spires, the Dome Cathedral is the largest church in the Baltics, dating back seven centuries. Try to catch one of the organ recitals.
St Peter’s Church. 19 Skarnu, 00-371-7-229426. St Peter’s is a wonderful church whose spire punctuates the Riga skyline. It dates from 1209 and its wooden tower was once the highest in Europe. The observation platform is perfect for panoramic city views.
Marvel at the gloriously preserved Jugendstil (art nouveau) architecture; it’s the finest in Europe, particularly on Elizabetes and Alberta Street.
Day trip to Jurmala, a seaside resort. Children ride dodgems, women sell flowers and jars of wild strawberries, and on summer evenings the sea breeze is accompanied by music from open-air discos.
Hot spot
The cosy cellar bar Rigas Balzams (4 Torna Street, 00-371-7-214494) is the place to find out if the black herbal elixir after which it’s named is medicinal or not. After midnight closing, head to Cetri Balti Krekli (12 Vecpilsetas, 00-371-7-213885), where live rock and folk is enjoyed by a dolled-up local crowd.
Shop spot
For a vestige of Soviet life, visit the Centraltirgus (Central Market, 1 Pragas), a bustling market housed in giant former Zeppelin hangars. You’ll find all sorts of incredible foodstuffs produced by cottage industries, including herbs, berries and honeycomb from the hives that every rural house maintains, plus all kinds of dairy foods and mysterious meats.
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