Baroque, popular in the 18th century, is one of the most elaborate architectural styles in Latvia and some of Latvia’s favorite buildings are built following it. Baroque facades are especially rich in details, while the interiors are filled (some would say overfilled) by shards of riches and prestige.
Baroque was never universal, reserved mostly for the buildings paid by the richest.
One of the two key powers behind the Latvia’s Baroque was the Roman Catholic church which has commissioned numerous white churches in the Latgale area where it was dominant. All these construction were funded by the local Polish-Lithuanian nobility who hoped this would help reach a better afterlife in a very troubled era where danger of Russia and state Russian Orthodoxy already loomed. They often followed a sub-style known as Vilnius baroque which is characterized by twin slim church towers. Other churches were towerless.
After all, Baroque style was closely intertwinned with Catholicism, as it was Catholic church that has commissioned first Baroque buildings in the world.
Another power behind the Latvia’s Baroque were the dukes of Courland-Semigallia. Their statelet (a fief of Poland-Lithuania) was sent into decline by numerous wars, but their archietctural projects were partly funded by Russians who sought to court them. They included massive palaces at Jelgava and Rundale was well an academy in Jelgava.
Baroque was also used by some nobles for their countryside manors and townhouses. Additionally, some older urban churches were “updated” by Baroque towers that still survive, including the Riga’s Lutheran Cathedral and St. Peter’s church.
While Baroque facades often survived, interiors and surrounding formal gardens were typically less lucky (both have been destroyed in Jelgava palace, for example). Still, some of them were restored after the independence of Latvia.
1918 declaration of Latvian independence sparkled foreign invasions aimed to extinguish the new state. In the period between 1918 and 1920, Riga suffered alternating Russian communist, Russian monarchist, and German occupations. However, Germans and Russians were both weakened by World War 1 and, having joined their forces together, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians routed out the invaders in their Wars of Independence.
Delimitation of Latvian border with Soviet Russia in 1920 marked the successful defense of independence.
Two decades of prosperous Latvian freedom followed. Riga was now a political capital, named „Paris of the Baltics“ for its beauty. The massive population growth had ceased as many non-Latvians left to build their own homelands, so the mission of Latvian governments was to transform past growth into an enduring prosperity.
Construction of Ķegums hydroelectric plant in 1937 which harnessed Daugava to provide Latvians with enough electricity.
They were mostly successful. New major developments brought Western European joys to Latvia (Ķemeri spa, Ķegums power plant) and paid the belated official respect to Latvian culture (Riga soldiers cemetery, Riga Skansen). Industry flourished, manufacturing even cars and airplanes. It seemed that Latvian history reached its happy end. But nothing could have been farther from the truth.
Ķemeri spa soon after it had been constructed in 1938.
During the 1930s, much of Europe saw democracies overthrown by dictatorships. While the Latvian authoritarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis that began in 1933 was relatively benign, much more oppressive systems evolved in the Soviet Union (communist) and Germany (national socialist). Both regimes sought to redraw the map of Eastern Europe and independent Latvia had no place in their schemes. Soviet-German Ribentropp-Molotov pact „ceded“ Latvia to the Soviets, and they swiftly occupied the nation in 1940.
Riga city hall, one of the many interwar projects meant to give Riga that feeling of ‘seat of power’ was one of many cancelled by the Soviet occupation.
Islam keeps a low-key in Latvia. Latvia has among the lowest population shares of Muslims in Europe (0,05%) and is among the few countries that have no mosques.
Nearly all Latvia’s Muslims (or their forefathers) came as a result of foreign pressure. First Latvia’s Muslims served in the 19th century Russian army or were its prisoners of war.
The bulk of current Muslims came as Soviet settlers during the Soviet occupation. Having came from modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, they are mostly of Turkic stock (Tatars, Azeris, Uzbeks).
These “Soviet Muslims” are far from religious and usually assimilated into the Russophone community. Many of them became atheist (something promoted by the Soviet regime). While Latvia has some 7000 people of traditionally Muslim communities, merely several hundred still practice Islam.
After Latvian independence some new, more religious Muslims came as students from countries such as Lebanon. There were also a few illegal migrants scaling Latvia’s Eastern border.
The real game-changer however came in 2015 when Latvia gave in to European Union pressure to accept 776 illegal migrants from Middle East and Africa, most of them Muslim. As Latvia increasingly loses its sovereignty to the European Union, its ability to control its own population may grow increasingly limited and more Muslim illegal migrants may be sent from Western Europe to Latvia.
Neo-Classical architecture imitates the architecture of ancient Rome and ancient Greece. The style was popular in Latvia ~1750-1850 and the streets still have more Neo-Classical buildings than buildings constructed according to any earlier style. Neo-classical was even adopted for wooden buildings.
Classical temples of Roman and Greek gods were among the main inspirations, and many buildings thus had Classical columns, pediments, and Ancient symmetry.
Even though it is an imitation of ancient Rome and Greece, Neo-Classical has more elaborate facades than were possible during Classical Antiquity; the most elaborate Neo-Classical buildings are known as Empire style, which have added sculptures.
It should be noted that back in real Antiquity only the major public buildings and those of the rich had any decorations at all, while such buildings as apartment blocks were very simple. In Latvia of the 1750s and 1850s however, every urban building was expected to be built to the levels of ancient temples rather than ancient buildings of the same purpose.
Neo-Classical interiors were, however, more austere than most earlier interiors. Even palaces and churches often had all-white interiors with relatively few decorations, just as the Ancient Roman buildings that inspired them (this was a misconception, however, as in reality, Ancient buildings had colorful interiors, just that the colors were destroyed by time).
The most visible legacy of Neo-Classicism in Latvia is however not the buildings themselves but the changes in urban planning. The cities and districts built before 19th century typically consist of many labyrinthine narrow streets that lead to some larger squares. Neo-Classical cities (e.g. Daugavpils and Riga Centrs), on the other hand, are based on straight rather wide streets, forming rectangular blocks filled with buildings. This was the same urban planning as in the Roman Empire, and even where the Neo-classical buildings themselves have been destroyed by subsequent wars and occupations (e.g. Daugavpils), the Neo-classical street grid remained intact.
As the time progressed, people of Latvia started to grow fond of all the previous styles rather than just Neo-classical. As such, Neo-classical was reduced from the majority style to an exception for new buildings by the mid-19th century.
Like every Soviet-ruled city Riga received a fair share of dull and same-looking district of medium-to-high-rises filled with small flats. ~60% of inhabitants there are Russian settlers and their descendants. Churches are almost non-existent despite high population densities. There is little work there as the districts were meant just to house workers who would commute to factories, using crowded trams and (trolley)buses.
As independent Latvia became post-industrial, the commute is more commonly to the Centrs in a private car. Such change now stuffs the once-empty yards of Soviet buildings. Also, Soviet districts received some entertainment of their own. Spice shopping mall in Western Soviet districts is among the largest in Riga.
However, just like when they were constructed in 1960s-1980s, they have very little to see.
Soviet districts essentially surround the historic Riga like a horseshoe, marking the city‘s Western, Southern and Eastern limits.
The western Soviet districts are crossed by many foreigners on their root to downtown as Riga International Airport is located there. A small aviation museum of mostly old Soviet aircraft is next to the airport (it may be visited on long layovers).
Interestingly, Riga has another aviation museum located in Spilve airport not far away. Spilve was used as Riga’s main airport until 1973 and its somewhat derelict building (completed in 1956) is a good example of what Stalinist airports looked like, built to look as opulent as railroad stations of years gone-by yet with the romantic splendor replaced by communist symbols.
At the time it was believed that different architectural styles of the past are appropriate for buildings of different functions.
Lutheran and Catholic churches were typically constructed following Gothic Revival style, imitating the architecture of Medieval great cathedrals. These red brick elaborate buildings with tall spired towers that were constructed in the 19th century were especially complex, but the style became somewhat simpler late.
In any case, these churches are not very numerous, as Lutheran and Catholic faiths lacked official status back then. Russian Orthodoxy was the state religion and Russian Orthodox churches were constructed in most towns and city districts. Their architects followed a mandatory Neo-Byzanthine style instead, emulating the Medieval Orthodox churches of Byzantine Empire. These churches all have domes. Typically, one dome is large and the other ones are smaller. Facade decorations consist of geometric lines and stylized columns.
19th century was a somewhat more secular era than those before it, and cities were transformed from merely outposts for military, religion and trade into places where hundreds of thousands people lived and worked. As such, a wide array of massive secular buildings became needed, such as government offices, post offices, train stations and banks. Some of these buildings were built according to a continuing Neo-Classical style.
Neo-Baroque became popular for theaters and museums, its opulent forms probably the best embodiment of art possible in building material.
Another popular style in Latvia and all the areas where Germans were influential was Rundbogenstil (round arch style), effectively a German form of Neo-Romanesque characterized by round window arches.
Later in the 19th century, Eclectic historicism became common, freely combining details of various pasts styles, especially those of Gothic, Classical, Baroque and Renaissance. It became very popular for apartment buildings and other secular structures. Often these buildings were especially elaborate: even simple apartment buildings or wooden single-family homes now had towers, domes and facade sculptures, once reserved to churches and major public edifices.
A simpler version of eclectic historicism buildings are purposefully left unplastered, their facade decorations formed out of the same bricks that are their construction material. This became known as the Brick style, especially prevalent in Daugavpils. Brick style was also used for factories as well as Russian military barracks in places such as Karosta. In such cases, saving on plastering was understandable but the zeitgeist still did not allow construction of non-elaborate facades, creating brick ornamentation instead.
Another new trend of late 19th century were the Residential castles: countryside manor palaces that looked like Medieval castles. They were built according to whatever past styles their rich mostly German owners wished, ranging from the most common Neo-Gothic to British Neo-Tudor. Compared to the real Medieval castles they had larger windows and way more opulent interiors as the ability to defend them were not really needed in what was an unprecedented century of peace in Latvia (1812-1914), while growing economy and technological advances allowed for comforts not known before. Towers were popular, but they were meant to provide their owners a nice lookout into their own lands and pretty nature rather than to provide a ground for defenders to shoot at approaching enemies.
Many of the prettiest buildings in Latvia have been conceived or funded by ethnic Germans: the palaces, the castles, the churches… Having came to Christianize the land Germans amassed immense power, becoming the lords of the land.
While Germans lost sovereignty over Latvia in the 16th century, even under the subsequent alternating Polish, Lithuanian, Swedish and Russian regimes they remained the elite, controlling Latvia’s lands and businesses. They were known as “Baltic barons” and still made up 6,2% of population in 1897.
Urbanization and enlightenment of the Latvian peasantry ~1900 broke the German monopoly on leadership and culture. After Latvian independence (1918) emigration and lower birth rates made German share decline to 3,2% by 1935.
But the complete end to the Latvia’s German community came with World War 2 and the subsequent Soviet Genocide, which all but destroyed the German community. Germans had to flee the land that was their home for centuries, those who couldn’t or didn’t were murdered. Much of the remaining cultural heritage in Latvia was destroyed. Since then Germans make up merely 0,1% of Latvia‘s population.
Historically Germans were primarily concentrated in southern and western Latvia (Semigallia and Courland) as well as Riga. Well into the 20th century they made 25%-50% of population in many towns and cities there. Beyond the city limits however there were very few Germans.
Irreligiousness (Atheism) in Latvia is largely a product of Soviet occupation, when it was heavily promoted.
After occupying Latvia, Soviets have closed and demolished numerous churches and houses of worship, while others came under constant surveillance. On the one hand, being religious in Soviet Latvia was unprofitable as it hampered career, on the other hand it was also difficult as religious education was not available and materials were hardly accessible.
Due to this the church attendances decreased and faiths were not properly passed onto new generations. That is especially said about the smallest faiths (Jewish faith, Islam) and Lutheranism.
A part of the Latvia’s irreligious (especially among ethnic minorities) have adopted the doctrine of “Soviet atheism”, which was arguably a fundamentalist faith on itself. While deeply critical of any thought of God, it regarded Marxist-Leninist doctrines as indisputable truth (the non-recognition of which may have even led to one’s forcible treatment in psychiatric wards). Some still follow “Soviet atheism”, some others have replaced it by similar “Western far left atheism”.
While Latvia remained among the most irreligious states of the world, irreligiousness has actually declined after independence with some people refinding their forefather’s faiths while others joining new (mostly Christian) religious communities led by enigmatic preachers whose sermons just became legal.
Currently some 15-30% of Latvia’s population is irreligious. It is difficult to draw the line, as many Latvians are “almost irreligious”, believing in just those few tenets of their faith that were passed onto them by their parents.
Art Nouveau (a.k.a. Jugend style) architecture prevailed in Europe of 1880s-1910s. It was an antithesis to other styles that merely copied the past. Instead of re-using old columns and Antiquity-inspired sculptures, art nouveau used elements such as curved lines, geometric patterns, images of plants and images from local mythology to create extremely elaborate yet still modern (for the time) facades.
Latvia saw its most rapid urbanization in the same era of art nouveau. Therefore Latvian cities became a great repository of art nouveau architecture while Riga is usually considered an unparalleled gem of art nouveau. The elaborate facades of these buildings are favorites for tourists to snap images of and there is even an Art Nouveau museum.
Interiors of art nouveau buildings are no less elaborate than their exteriors. Even apartment ceilings may be painted rather than white, while entrance halls and staircases are considered the pride of the building and therefore are often especially opulent.
Most art nouveau buildings of Latvia are quite large, 4 to 6 floors tall. Most of them are apartment blocks ordered by rich owners to house all the people that were flocking into cities.
In Riga, art nouveau buildings are so numerous that they are divided into four sub-styles.
Eclectic decorative art nouveau still use the Historicist proportions with building facades divided by lines into floors. However, elements “loaned” from history are partly replaced by new art nouveau elements (plants, patterns, curved lines).
Perpendicular art nouveau have their facades divided by vertical rather than horizontal lines. Such aesthetics were new at the time and somewhat similar to American skyscrapers. While Latvian art nouveau buildings were much smaller in size, they were still larger than anything secular built in Latvia before. ~1/3rd of Riga’s art nouveau buildings belong this substyle.
Romanticized Renaissance Art Nouveau was somewhere in between the above two styles, with more vertical orientation but still looking into history for inspirations and general ideas for forms.
National romantic art nouveau (1905-1915) is the ultimately Latvian art-nouveau sub-style. It incorporated Latvian ethnic patterns and mythological figures into building designs and used tall gabled roofs akin to vernacular Latvian architecture. This was the time of Latvian national revival whereby Latvians were collecting and reinventing their songs, literature and other arts. National romantic art nouveau is thus a modern form of ethnic Latvian architecture. Giving large numbers of such buildings in Riga, it is not only unique but also prominent, making Latvians one of the few nations to have had its own widespread “ethnic architectural style” as late as 20th century. Unlike the other forms of Art Nouveau, the facades of national romantic style have neither horizontal nor vertical lines.
Some National Romantic Art Nouveau buildings were, however, more German in nature. They used details taken out of Medieval German architecture, such as a stylized wooden frame. Even though Latvians became the most numerous ethnic group in cities ~1900 and increasing numbers of key architects were Latvians, Latvia’s Germans still wielded a considerable influence and many of the buildings of the era were funded by Germans.
While most Art Nouveau buildings were built of brick and rather large, a unique sub-style of them were wooden summer homes that became common in seaside resorts and seaside districts of large cities. Often constructed as second homes of rich families, they used wood to form elaborate external decorations as well as romanticized towers.
Art Nouveau came to abrupt end with World War 1 and for a long time afterward suffered negative opinions about it as many people associated it with the “decadence of the imperialism era”. Such attitudes continued under the Soviet occupation, when the buildings were nationalized and the larger apartments made communal (with each family being allocated a room), leading to severe damage to many interiors. Today, however, Art Nouveau considered a gem of Latvia.
The brutality of First Soviet occupation (1940-1941) was such that it has been named the „Year of Terror“. All Latvian property was nationalized. Some 35000 were arrested, murdered or expelled to inhospitably cold Siberia – most never to return. 1% of all Latvians (15000) were expelled to their deaths in Siberia in a single night of June 14, 1941, alone.
Victims of the Soviet ‘Year of Terror’ in Valmiera. Most Latvians were tortured before being murdered, by means such as gouging their eyes or burning the face.
So terrible was the Soviet occupation that many Latvians welcomed the new occupation by Nazi German forces in 1941 as a relief. Not the Jews, however, who were the new target set by Nazi Germany (over 50000 were killed, expelled or fled).
A drawing of Salaspils prison camp for Soviet POWs, established by Nazi Germany and built by Jewish forced labor.
Despite the effort of both Germans and Latvian Legion to stop them, in 1944-1945 Soviets had reconquered Latvia and their Stalinist terrors have returned (additional 150000 people were murdered or expelled). Not wishing to wait for their deaths, some 120000 Latvians fled westwards just before Soviet reoccupation, eventually taking refuge in America and Australia. Others launched a failed guerilla war in Latvian forests (1944-1956).
Soldiers of Latvian Legion fight to prevent Soviet re-occupation in 1943. While nominally a part of German army, this regiment did not participate in any war crimes.
While Soviet murders became more tamed by the late 1950s (after Stalin died), the mass settling of Latvia was the new danger to the survival of Latvian nation. Tens of thousands new ethnically-Russian Soviet settlers would be encouraged to move to Latvia every year. By the 1970s already, the main Latvian cities were Russian-majority. By 1989, merely 52% of country’s inhabitants were ethnic Latvians (44% in the cities, 37% in Riga).
People squeezing into Riga’s trams in the 1950s. Throughout the Soviet occupation cars remained a luxury and most had to rely on unbelievably crammed public transportation instead.
Latvians were taught Russian in schools but Russians would not learn Latvian, seeing Russian language and culture as more important and “international”. This meant ethnic Latvians were finding increasingly little use for their own language in their own homeland as most public events would now be in Russian. Additionally, religions and religious traditions were heavily repressed.
A 1970s Soviet building in Riga with Soviet propaganda poster that was typical then, declaring (in Russian only): ‘Wherever there is [Communist] party, there is progress, there is victory’.While the Soviet oppressiveness and discrimination surely made the occupation even more hated by Latvians, it was the economic backwardness of the Soviet Union that initiated its final collapse. Supposedly egalitarian (as most people earned similar wages), the Soviet system actually had a person’s social standing determined by what “relationships” with important people he or she had. People would commonly steal goods from their workplaces in order to exchange them in the black market or to give them to friends; “important people” were the ones having “access” (direct or indirect) to the “best” goods and services. Working hard was not rewarded at all, leading to hopeless productivity levels, which dragged Soviet (and thus Latvian) economy decades behind the West.
Corn harvest in 1955. Mandatory planting of corn (inapplicable to the cold Latvian climate) was one of Soviet centrally-planned economic failures which ravaged the agriculture.
On the geopolitical scale, Soviets still sought to compete with USA (“Cold War”) but that was possible only through allocating a greater and greater share of resources to the military, making shortages of civilian goods even acuter (for people without “relationships”). Understanding that he is losing the Cold War, Soviet leader Gorbachev declared a policy of perestroika and glasnost, or the transformation to democracy and capitalism. In a couple of years, the democratic People’s Front movement in Latvia became brave enough to demand freedom. Soviet reprisals were no longer able to stop the masses as similar calls resounded all over Union’s non-Russian lands.
Baltic way (1989), one of the largest protests in the world history. It was a 600 km long human chain of 2 million people, connecting Latvia to Lithuania and Estonia, demonstrating the unity of Baltic States
Gypsies are a traditionally nomadic community originating in Medieval India. In Latvia, however, they have settled down long ago and have no villages nor camps.
Throughout the 20th century Gypsies was an extremely rapidly growing community due to high fertility rates: Gypsies would often marry in their teens and have many kids. In 1935 there were 3839 Gypsies in Latvia (0,2% of total), increasing to 5427 by 1970 and 8205 by 2000 (0,35%).
After Latvia joined European Union and free migration was permitted, many Gypsies left for the richer states of the West.
Largest communities of Gypsies exist in Riga and Ventspils, each having ~900 people. In Ventspils, Gypsies make the biggest impact as they have a population share of 2,1%.
While Riga appears to be located on the Baltic Sea (Riga Gulf is even named after it), the downtown is actually further inland, using Daugava as a shipping artery. Most of the Seaside Riga is relatively empty, having a suburban feel. There is little point to overuse Riga‘s beaches after all when Jūrmala prime resort is merely 20 km away on a six-lane highway.
Among the more interesting places of Seaside Riga is Ziemeļblāzma culture palace. Constructed in 1913 using art nouveau style it still offer free concerts. The surrounding park has a nice art nouveau lookout tower (ticket required) and some folly landscapping.
Ziemeļblāzma culture palace.
Vecāķi suburb on the right bank of Daugava offers walks in seaside forest and on the Riga port breakwater. One may view the vessels arriving and departing Riga port from there. One concrete ship wreck lies submerged near the beach. The area may be accessed by bus but a walk will still be needed.
A stroll on Riga breakwater.
Daugavgrīva suburb on the east side of Daugava has remains of former fortress, but they are off-limits as a naval school is now open there.
Estonians and Latvians are neighboring but extremely different nations. Estonians speak a non-Baltic and non-Indo-European language, more similar to Finnish.
Despite such differences, Estonia and Latvia were ruled by the same powers for centuries and before 1918 there was never any official border between the two countries.
Border delimitation was difficult and at heart of these difficulties laid the Walk city. Populated by both Latvians and Estonians, it was partitioned in two: Estonian Valga and Latvian Valka. Despite such careful considerations and radical measures, thousands of Latvians and Estonians remained on the “wrong sides of the border”. Latvia had some 7000 Estonians in 1935, or 0,4% of population.
Throughout the 20th century, however, the numbers of Estonians were on a constant decline, both due to assimilation and migration to Estonia. There were 4334 Estonians in 1970 (0,2%) and only 2652 in 2000 (0,1%).
Recently though the numbers of Estonians may have somewhat risen again, as Riga reasserted its role as the capital of the Baltics and European Union removed migration restrictions.
Throughout its millennium-long history, Riga remained the main metropolis and trade center of East Baltic.
Medieval age: Crusaders to Merchants (until 1581)
Riga’s location on the mouth of Daugava (Baltic region’s longest river) first came to prominence as a trade location in the Viking era. But the current city was founded German Christians in their fervor to Christianise the Balts, at the time Europe’s largest remaining pagan population. It became a bishop’s seat. Anchored in Riga, Christianity indeed soon prevailed over Latvia. Not everything was rosy, however, and the bishop of Riga often found himself fighting against the fellow Christians Livonian Knights who controlled areas south of Riga.
A map of Riga in 1400, consisting of just a part of today’s Old Town (Daugava is at the bottom).
These conflicts were, however, pretty minor as the main Crusader forces moved southwards into still-pagan Lithuania. Surrounded by relative peace, Riga became a major Baltic trading city, part of the famous Hanseatic union. While its hinterland was inhabited by Latvians, the city itself was largely German (like many new Eastern European cities at the time). Germanic town law was adopted and its unique form known as Riga law evolved.
Where to see the era today? The main churches of Riga Old Town (Catholic and Lutheran Cathedrals) and some other key buildings there date to this era.
Foreign rule age: Poles, Lithuanians, Swedes and Russians (1581-1867)
When Lithuania Christianised in 1385, the crusading knights no longer had a reason to stay in the area. Still, they refused to leave. However, the tides of war were increasingly unfavorable for them and Riga fell to joint Polish-Lithuanian forces in 1581. The German city-state was replaced by a foreign rule, which would continue uninterrupted for over three centuries.
Medieval Riga
Poland-Lithuania lost Riga to Sweden in 1621 and Sweden had to relinquish it to Russia in 1710. However, Riga has never been a mere frontier outpost. In fact, it was the largest city in Sweden (surpassing Stockholm) and one of the largest cities in Russia. Regardless of the ruling great power, the economy remained in the hands of the local German community, the “Baltic Barons”. As late as 1867, German-speakers comprised 43% of Riga‘s population of 103 000 (Russian-speakers – 25%, Latvian-speakers – 24%). The local laws that made it impossible for non-Germans to become craftsmen, for example, stayed unrepealed for centuries after Germans have lost the political control of the city.
Riga suburbs set alight in 1812 by Russians, as part of their scorched earth policy against Napoleon invasion
Where to see the era today? Much of the Riga Old Town dates to this era.
Golden age: Industrialization to Awakening (1867-1918)
When a belated industrial era reached Russia, Riga became one of the Russian Empire’s largest industrial cities. Massive new districts of large buildings sprung up nearly overnight, hundreds of now-famous 5-6 floors art nouveau edifices were constructed filled with rental apartments. Exploding growth increased the population from 170 000 people in 1881 to nearly 600 000 in 1913. This number was much more impressive in that era than it is today as the cities generally used to be smaller.
Port of Riga in 1900, adorned by large new buildings, instrumental at exporting the products of Rigan industry
As the center of a major region, Riga attracted so many people of other ethnicities that it had a larger number of Lithuanians than every city in Lithuania, for example (and even this meant just 7% of the total Riga population). Still, Latvians from villages were the majority of “new Rigans” and Riga more than ever became the heart of the Latvian nation, then undergoing a sweeping National Awakening. The Latvian-speakers share in total population increased from 24% in 1867 to 45% in 1897. At the same time, the German share declined from 43% to 22% as there were no rural Germans in Latvia who could participate in the urbanization.
Vilhelms Ķuze chocolate factory in 1910, one of Riga’s pre-WW1 industrial powerhouses
Despite all this glory, Riga lacked political importance. All the major decisions were made in Saint Petersburg far north. Public signs in Riga were Russian rather than either Latvian (the local plurality language) or German (local elite language).
This was soon to change as World War 1 led to the defeats of both Russia and Germany.
Mostly Latvian workers of the Riga Union factory (all males, some of them in mid-teens) posing for a photo in 1906. They were numerous and aspiring for importance and after World War 1 they got their own free Latvia
Where to see the era today? As this was the prime era of Riga’s expansion it is not difficult to see. Centrs, districts east of Centrs, Maskavas suburb and Āgenskalns all were built to house new Rigans during the National Revival / Industrial revolution era. Sarkandaugava was the industrial heart of the times while Mežaparks hosted villas of the elite.
Freedom age: Capital of the nation (1918-1940)
With all the major empires weakened by war, Latvians seized the opportunity to crown their National Awakening with an independence declaration (1918). After a hard fight against various Russian forces (pro-czar Bermontians and the communist Bolsheviks), in 1918-1920 Latvians established a firm control over Riga and it was destined to become their capital.
Riga Castle under Bermontian occupation in 1919. Led by Pavel Bermondt, these troops sought to restore czarist Russia with Latvia within it.
The city lost a third of its people as many Russian officials went back to Russia while most Lithuanians and Poles moved to develop their own newly-independent homelands.
In 1935, Riga had 385 000 inhabitants, 63% of them ethnic Latvians. This was the only time in history Latvians were the majority of Rigans. German share stood at 10% and Russian share at 9%. Both of these minorities were surpassed by the Jews (11%) who arrived from towns (as the Russian Imperial limitations on Jewish settlement were scrapped by independent Latvia).
Latvian song festival taking place in 1931. After independence, the Song Festivals transformed from a grassroots cultural movement into a state-sponsored mass extravaganza
However, “The Paris of the Baltics” more than compensated its population decline by the power it had gained, attracting diplomats and celebrities, as well as undertaking major projects such as the Freedom fighters memorial and Skansen. Riga was destined to become a global city, but all the interwar glory was cut short by the Soviet Russian occupation in 1940: buildings were destroyed, grand projects canceled, and the ones responsible for building the Riga of 1930s were murdered.
Riga city hall, one of the many interwar projects meant to give Riga that feeling of ‘seat of power’ (never built due to Soviet occupation).
Where to see the era today?Teika district is the only area of Riga built up during interwar independence era. The Soldiers memorial and Skansen near Mežaparks are some of the greatest projects of that era when the Latvian culture prevailed. Freedom statue near Centrs may look small but its symbolic value far outweighs its size.
Bloody age: Occupations to Genocides (1940-1990)
The Soviet occupation of Riga (1940) began as the “Year of Terror”. Tens of thousands Rigans were murdered or expelled to Siberia where further thousands perished. All the properties were nationalized and looted. Never before was Riga subjected to such brutality. The Soviet terror was so great that when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, most Latvians greeted the Germans as liberators.
After the Soviet army was rooted out of Latvia, Latvians attempt to recognize the mutilated bodies of their relatives who were murdered by Soviets in Riga.
Not the Riga’s Jews, however, many of whom had collaborated with the Soviets. The Soviet genocide of Latvians was replaced by a new German genocide of Riga’s Jews (the majority of them either perished or fled).
In 1944-1945 the Soviets came back and the targets shifted back again. Not willing to wait for their death, many Latvian and German citizens of Riga evacuated to the West. Those who didn’t were to suffer a terrible fate.
Riga after Soviet re-occupation with parts of Old Town destroyed in order to create open fields or be rebuilt in a Soviet style.
The Riga German community was destroyed while the Latvian population severely reduced. Throughout the Soviet occupation, Russian settlers would be sent to live in Riga in the apartments that belonged to the Latvians, Germans or Jews recently killed or expelled. By the 1980s, Riga already had a Russian-majority, with Latvians making just 37% of the population. Even the Latvian language grew increasingly rare in public as ethnic Latvians had to communicate in Russian with the people of the other ethnicities (at that time, most neighbors and co-workers would have been non-Latvian). Two-thirds of Riga’s schools used Russian as the language of instruction, making Russian the primary language of most non-Latvian Riga’s kids.
Russians and Latvians squeezing into Riga’s trams in the 1950s. Throughout the Soviet occupation, cars remained a luxury and most had to rely on unbelievably crammed public transportation instead.
The life itself in Riga was similar to that anywhere else in the Soviet Union with massive shortages of goods and long queues, extremely limited foreign travels, KGB surveillance and few entertainment opportunities. In the 1940s-1950s, massive Stalinist buildings were constructed in the downtown. In the 1960s-1980s, some concrete slab boroughs have been built in the West. However, Riga grew little: so many people perished in the genocides that even after the massive Soviet settlement Riga was not that much more populous than before World War 1. The population peaked at 910000 in 1989.
Concrete slab building in Riga with Soviet propaganda poster that was typical then, declaring (in Russian only): ‘Wherever there is the [Communist] party, there is progress, there is victory’.In the late 1980s, Gorbachev’s perestroika/glasnost allowed limited freedoms and the Latvians of Riga soon dared to speak publicly in favor of restoring independence. “Now or never” – they thought as the independence was likely to become impossible after another decade or two of further Russian settlement leading to an even firmer Russian majority.
Riga metro project, one of the targets of late 1980s protests. As only the cities of 1 million inhabitants were allowed to have subways in the Soviet Union, the metro project was seen as an evidence of planned further Russian settlement.
Where to see the era today? The Soviet pompousness may be seen in key edifices they built near the downtown, such as Stalinist Latvian Academy of Sciences in Maskavas suburb and the Soviet victory monument in Āgenskalns. The main residential expansion of Riga happened westwards as concrete slab districts such as Imanta were built; little has changed there after the Soviet times, save for construction of new shops. It is best to learn about the genocides and occupations at the Museum of Latvian occupation (Old Town) or the KGB museum (Centrs)
Modern age (1990 onwards)
In 1990, Latvia declared independence and Russian attempts to curb it failed as the Soviet Union totally collapsed. ~150 000 Russian settlers and officials moved out and Riga once again had a slight Latvian plurality (41% in 2000). Latvian became the sole official language for all the public inscriptions and advertisements but it took another decade before Latvian became the most common language you would hear in Riga streets. The communities remained bitterly divided. This was visible on many occasions, even at the World War 2 veteran commemoration, when ethnic Latvians would celebrate the Latvian Legion Day (anti-Soviet) while Russophones would celebrate the Soviet Victory Day.
Businesses brought international trends and ideas to Riga. At first, these companies were largely local but later foreign investments came in. The first modern skyscrapers were constructed in the 2000s.
After a difficult decade of transition (the 1990s), Riga reasserted its role as the “Capital of the Baltics” with the most representative offices of foreign corporations and embassies among the Baltic States, and the most destinations out of its international airport.
2006 World Ice Hockey championship in Riga became the first event of such scale to be hosted in the city.
Where to see the era today? As the market economy returned in Latvia businessmen became keen to build over some of the empty or run down places that were skipped by the Soviet development despite being located at good locations. The western bank of Daugava (Āgenskalns near downtown) thus received its fair share of modern architecture, while shopping malls and supermarkets adorned key roads and district centers.
Majori serves as Jūrmala downtown, and it is the only district that has a feeling of a city.
Pedestrianized Jomas street is Majori’s main artery, famous for its upscale restaurants and shopping. In summers it is full of holidaymakers. Jomas street connects the Majori train station to Turaidas street.
At the station square stands the famous towered Majori hotel (now closed).
Turaidas street is the Jūrmala’s main gala beach access route. It has numerous elaborate historic hotels and the famous Dzintari concert hall. Built in 1938 it has remained the heart of Jūrmala’s cultural life ever since, offering regular summer gigs and some winter events. The old wooden building has been extended by an open-air “summer estrada” in the Soviet occupation era. On the corner of Turaidas and Jomas streets, a Russian Orthodox church destroyed by the Soviets in the 1960s is being reconstructed (in a different style).
Jūras street (parallel to the sea and Jomas street) has some of Jūrmala’s most impressive pre-war villas. They are generally in good condition as exorbitant real estate prices here have ensured that only the richest people would acquire them.
Out of all parts of Jūrmala, Majori is the one most closely intertwined to the sea. Some of its buildings have been constructed right on the beach, serving as hotels and restaurants. That is something extremely rare in the Baltic region. Marienbade spa (constructed 1870 at the narrowest point of “Jūrmala peninsula”) was among the area’s first tourist buildings that have effectivelly launched Jūrmala as a seaside destination. However, it was partly rebuilt by the Soviets. Another, more authentic wooden spa stands where Pilsonu street meets the sea.
Like in the rest of Jūrmala, the through traffic largely uses a wide avenue further from the sea. Alongside this road one may find two museums. The Jūrmala city museum is free and offers a nice selection of memorabilia from the era the resort was born and developed. Another museum is dedicated to Aspazija, who was a famous Jūrmala-born interwar poetess.
These buildings are actually in Dubulti, another central village of Jūrmala located just to the west of Majori. While easily accessible on foot from Majori, Dubulti offers considerably less entertainment. The prettiest building is the local Lutheran church (1903), the largest house of worship in Jūrmala, built in German national romantic style. Dubulti also has a separate train stop near the church.
Being the downtown, Majori has also expanded south of the railroad. These areas are less impressive and more derelict however, as they are further from the sea and thus have fewer tourism opportunities. Even the old Majori manor is now abandoned.
Interwar architecture in Latvia is relatively scarce, as Latvian urban population declined heavily during World War 1, reducing the need for new construction. That said, Latvia just became independent and thus launched some massive projects to assert the Latvianess of its cities.
However, the post-WW1 shortages and destruction meant that there was less finances and materials available to fund opulent buildings. As such, while new buildings became even larger than before, their external decorations were simplified.
Original Historicist and Art Nouveau styles effectively came to an end. New buildings had relatively simple facades, the only decorations being various lines on the facade, window forms and the form of the building itself (often curved or made of various rectangles). The simplest forms of the style became known as early functionalism as the buildings increasingly were built as cheaply as possible in order for them to still achieve a particular function. Roofs became flat and interiors became plain.
That said, some other buildings, especially the more important ones, still included details of previous styles, such as columns or gabled roofs. Such details were often however limited to some particular facades while the other facades were much simpler and decoration-free. Nevertheless, such buildings are often refered to as neo-eclectic style.
Some of the most ambitious interwar projects were never built, as the Soviet occupation cut short the Latvian independence.
Riga city hall Project of 1939 (never built due to Soviet occupation).
While the interwar period was rather devoid of new construction in the cities, a real construction craze swept through the countryside as ethnic Latvians were given their own land for the first time through land reform and also received generous loans from the state. Homes of the era are wooden but looking more urban, abandoning the vernacular architecture. Just like their urban counterparts, the village homes of the era include some more elaborate details (e.g. porticoes) attached to otherwise rather plain facades.
Dzintari and Bulduri districts (“villages”) of Jūrmala feel as if the city would be married here with a forest. All the streets are well shaded by trees, while entire swatches of pristine forest remain among the developed zones. Also, trees separate Dzintari and Bulduri from its main draw: the sea, which is always easily accessible.
Both districts have been developed in the early 20th century. With seaside holidays getting more popular, more and more Rigans sought to have a summer residence in Jūrmala. Thus, the regular grid of Dzintari (then known as Edinburgh) and Bulduri boulevards was laid.
The area is vast, spanning 6 km from its east end at Lielupe mouths forests to the west end at Majori (Jūrmala downtown). A walk to traverse the entire Dzintari and Bulduri would be long, and bike may be preferable.
There are few actual wonders, but most of many turn-of-the-century towered wooden villas are interesting to look at. There are also restaurants and shops, although they are relatively few and far between. Bulduri is the newer and more regular of the two eastern areas. Two parallel boulevards there are bisected by numbered streets. At the time no new community (even that of summer homes) would have been imagined without a church, so a small but lovely Bulduri Lutheran church has been built in 1889.
In parts of Dzintari closer to Majori, modern market needs meant that many of the lots have been converted into multi-story buildings, primarily expensive apartments aimed at both Latvians and Russians.
Still, many pre-WW1 buildings remain even there, while pristine lands are not built up. One example is the Dzintari forest park, which has an observation tower offering very green vistas. In fact, Jūrmala city is almost invisible from there, so small are the buildings and so dense are the high surrounding trees.
Less impressively, some abandoned large Soviet spas and hotels stand amidst these natural areas. Even the ones that are still used arguably ruin the landscape with their megalomaniac forms.
Southern Bulduri is the main access point of Jūrmala as cars and trains arrive from Riga across two bridges. A rest area that includes a major indoor water theme park as well as gas station and a supermarket serves the arriving visitors near the car bridge.
At the easternmost tip of Jūrmala the Lielupe “village” is where Lielupe river enters the Baltic Sea. Separated bya forest from Bulduri it has a few old buildings but most of the developments are modern apartment blocks. One exception is the Outdoor museum. opened in 1970 it offers an opportunity to see how a premodern (i.e. pre-tourism) life in the area looked like back in the 19th century.
The area is served by train stops (from east to west) Lielupe, Bulduri and Dzintari. Lielupe train stop is actually located in southern Bulduri as the mouths of Lielupe area lack a railroad.
Socialist Realism was the only official architectural style during the Stalinist regime after Soviet Union had occupied Latvia. It was obligatory to all architects between 1944 (Soviet re-occupation of Latvia) and 1955.
Stalin sought to make Soviet cities look grander than those of the empires gone-by and perhaps comparable to the US cities. The details inspired by previous styles (columns, towers, etc.) returned even on simple buildings such as apartment blocks. On the other hand, the sizes of such buildings were larger than before. Stalinist Palace of Sciences became the tallest building in Latvia and held that title until after independence.
That said, Stalinist buildings looked more dull than the opulent edifices of centuries gone-by. Most Socialist realist buildings were colored grey or brown. They had massive decor elements (e.g. Greek-temple-styled columns several floors high) to draw attention from far away yet behind these elements often had quite simple lines of simple windows.
The biggest difference between the previous centuries and the Stalinist era were however the functions of the buildings. Apartment sizes were strictly controlled under Soviet occupation and the large buildings were thus subdivided into many small flats. Exceptions were made to the Soviet elite (e.g. communist party officials) who were allowed larger flats.
Public buildings had different functions as well. Soviet atheist policies meant that no new churches were constructed. Instead, buildings that could be used (among other purposes) to disseminate Soviet propaganda were built. The most prominent were Socialist realist cinemas (cinema according to Lenin was “Art above all arts” and every Soviet town and district had to have a cinema where propaganda movies would be shown to the general public). Additionally, educational institutions (where communism became an obligatory subject), “houses of culture” and Soviet government buildings were constructed in the style, dominating over their surroundings.
While interiors of the flats were rather shabby (although the high ceilings remind of more opulent times), interiors of public buildings were often seemingly opulent, with columns, murals and bas-reliefs. Invariably, Soviet symbolic was used heavily, e.g. hammer and sickle symbol, images of kolkhoz workers.
While the Socialist Architecture may seem expensive, it was actually not very much so as slave-like labor could be mobilized to build it (including prisoners of war). Additionally, the same projects were used in many cities (e.g. same-looking cinemas were built in Jelgava and Daugavpils).
Old architecture was not valued, and entire blocks of old buildings and cemeteries were destroyed to make place for massive Socialist Realist edifices or open fields (“plazas”), thought to be a necessity for a socialist city. Most of these transformations were done by architects sent in from Russia, as most local architects were either murdered, expelled or arrested in the Soviet Genocide.
Socialist Realism was abruptly cancelled soon after Stalin’s death in 1955; the Soviet institutions decided that the style was just a part of Stalinist grandeur. While the period of Socialist Realism was short, it made a lasting influence on Latvian cities (especially Riga) due to massive resources spent in building new buildings and destroying old ones in the era, disregarding the economic needs. Additionally, it was the period when World War 2 devastation had to be repaired, and with Stalinist fervor such “repairs” typically meant outright destruction of damaged buildings, to be replaced by Socialist Realist ones.
The villages of Western Jūrmala are built around the major road which has different names depending on the “village”: Asaru in the eastern Asari, Mellužu in Melluži, Dubultu in Pumpuri and Jaundubulti.
In Jaundubulti and Pumpuri, the main street becomes a boulevard with buildings and a park in-between.
Western Jūrmala has a multitude of historic buildings, although the most impressive ones stand elsewhere. Many of the homes here are new, built during the Soviet occupation or by the modern elite.
The beaches there are emptier. They lack the Blue flag status but are nonetheless clean and sandy.
On 1990 Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union together with the two other Baltic States. By 1991 the democratic and capitalist Latvia was widely recognized by foreign powers. The final Russian forces departed in 1995.
Demolition of 16-floor-tall Soviet Skrunda-2 military radar (1995), completing a major goal in asserting full Latvian independence.
Political independence was, however, merely the first step. Cultural independence had to follow: with 46% of its inhabitants and the majority of its urban population being Russophone, Latvians could have been easily outvoted and assimilated by the Russians even after independence. The key issue was that while Latvians spoke Russian, Russians generally did not speak Latvian, meaning that Russian was usually the only possible language for interethnic communication. As most of the communication in Latvian cities was interethnic, this would have left the Latvian language awfully little usage outside of the family, possibly sending it into extinction.
Pope John Paul II visits Latvia’s Catholic minority in their holiest shrine at Aglona, 1993. Unimaginable just 5 years ago the visit marked a tremendous shift from Soviet state atheism towards religious freedom.
Desperate times required desperate measures. Latvian was declared the sole official language for most public signs and activities. Only those of the Soviet settlers who were fluent in Latvian received citizenship. A third of Russians repatriated to Russia, but hundreds of thousands remained to live in Latvia, rendered stateless (until they would take Latvian exams – which most have refused to do). As the new generation grew up, Latvian language took a weak hold once again in the cities and culture. However, this came at the expense of national cohesion: Russians felt excluded from the new Latvia. They clung to their “privileged” Soviet past, celebrating Soviet festivals, history, and political ideas.
Latvia also strove for economic independence. Its outdated Soviet factories were built for the Soviet rather than local needs. Out-competed by Western goods and pushed out of the Eastern markets, they went bankrupt one after another, sending the economy into deep crisis in the 1990s. But economic freedom did wonders and young Baltic entrepreneurs put the economy back on track within a decade, filling the cities with new malls and office buildings which the Soviet system lacked. By 2001, Latvia was effectively a modern European society, attracting foreign investments.
2006 World Ice Hockey championship in Riga became the first event of such scale to be hosted by Latvia.
In 2004, Latvia joined NATO and the European Union as part of its program to ensure that Russia would never reconquer it. EU membership brought in many adverse effects, however, among them a mass emigration of Latvians to the newly accessible labor markets of the West. Latvian population declined from 2 377 000 to 2 070 000 between census years 2001 and 2011. Furthermore, European Union measures have displaced more and more Latvian laws, making some locals to question whether European Union membership on itself does not compromise Latvian independence.
By the late 2000s, Riga was once again the „unofficial capital of the Baltics“ and Jūrmala the top Baltic resort, despite the loss of population. Economically, however, Latvia lagged behind the two other Baltic States and was one of the worst-hit countries of the 2009 global economic downturn. Its subsequent austerity-based approach to tame the crisis has been celebrated among Western economists.
