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Laipni lūdzam Latvijā
Country7 places · 16 museums
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★ Has its own city story
Art Nouveau Riga, a baroque palace in the fields, white sand beaches and a nation of singers.
Latvia lies between the Baltic Sea and the lakes of Latgale, with forests over half of the land. Its people kept their language and more than a million folk songs, the dainas, through centuries of foreign rule. Explore the old town and the Art Nouveau streets of Riga, see the palace of Rundāle, walk the farms of the Open-Air Museum and find Mark Rothko in the town where he was born. Plan your museum days on museumtickets.com, then eat grey peas and rye bread and stay up for the midsummer night.
Merchants, dukes, empires and a chain of hands.
Bishop Albert founds Riga at the mouth of the Daugava; it soon becomes a great Hanseatic port.
See it at: Museum of the History of Riga and NavigationWestern Latvia becomes a duchy whose duke Jacob later even holds colonies in Africa and the Caribbean.
See it at: Kuldīga District MuseumLatvia declares independence on 18 November 1918.
See it at: Latvian War MuseumLatvia is occupied by the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany, then again by the Soviets; tens of thousands are deported.
See it at: Latvian Occupation MuseumOn 23 August a human chain of about two million people links Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.
See it at: Latvian Occupation MuseumLatvia's independence is fully restored in August 1991.
See it at: Latvian War MuseumA rebel poet, a storyteller and the first woman president.
Poet and playwright (1865–1943) who wrote about women's freedom and national freedom; with her husband Rainis she is one of Latvia's great writers.
See it at: Rainis and Aspazija HouseWriter (1861–1933) whose fairy-tale play Sprīdītis, about a small boy looking for happiness, every Latvian child knows.
See it at: Anna Brigadere Museum SprīdīšiA professor who returned from exile and became Latvia's first woman president in 1999; she studied the dainas, the folk songs.
Snow-melt landscapes, Art Nouveau facades and Mark Rothko.
The master of Latvian landscape, famous for melting snow and spring water in the woods.
Painter of Latvian village life and portraits around 1900; his studio home in Riga is a museum.
Architect of the most fantastic Art Nouveau facades on Alberta iela in Riga.
Bold modern painter of the 1920s, one of the founders of Latvian modernism.
Born in Daugavpils in 1903, he left as a boy for America and became one of the great painters of the 20th century.
Grey peas, rye bread and caraway cheese.
Large grey peas with fried bacon and onion, a favourite in winter and at Christmas.
Dark, sweet-sour rupjmaize; Latvians even make a dessert from it, bread soup with cream.
A small rye tart from Kurzeme, filled with potato and carrot and spiced with cinnamon.
A round fresh cheese with caraway seeds, made for the midsummer night.
Smoked flounder, eel and sprats from the coast, best bought at a seaside smokehouse.
Masks in winter, oak wreaths at midsummer and the Song Festival.
Shrovetide: sledging down hills, mummers in masks and pancakes to chase winter away.
The biggest holiday: wreaths of oak leaves and flowers, bonfires, caraway cheese and singing 'līgo' all night.
Tens of thousands of singers and dancers in Riga; UNESCO lists the Baltic song festivals as intangible heritage.
The start of winter, with mummers going from house to house and a feast of the harvest.
Riga says the first decorated Christmas tree stood here in 1510, put up by the Blackheads merchants.
See both: the old town for the Middle Ages, the Quiet Centre around Alberta iela for Art Nouveau.
Electric trains run from Riga to the beaches of Jūrmala and to Sigulda.
Rundāle Palace is in the countryside south of Riga; a car or tour is easiest.
Many museums close one day a week; check before you go.
On museumtickets.com: 16 museums with photos, the way there and the museums nearby. Save your favourites in the free Culture Passport and, where the museum offers it, pay your admission in advance.
From the airport to the city centre by public transport, then the trains and local lines to the museums.
Lines and timetables change. Check the operator’s website before you travel.
From the temples of Malta to the Wall in Berlin: Europe is one big cultural family. One site to plan your museum days, in your language.
