Riga was a major centre of the Hanseatic League, deriving its prosperity in the 13th–15th centuries from the trade with central and Eastern Europe. The urban fabric of its medieval centre reflects this prosperity, though most of the earliest buildings were destroyed by fire or war. Riga became an important economic centre in the 19th century, when the suburbs surrounding the medieval town were laid out, first with imposing wooden buildings in neoclassical style and then in Jugendstil. It is generally recognized that Riga has the finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe. In 1997 the Art Noveau District of Riga was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Jugendstil
The Historic Centre of Riga boasts the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. Between 1896 and 1913, the city expanded and a housing boom followed. The style which developed in Riga was influenced mainly by German, Austrian and Finnish architects.
Before World War I Riga was a growing industrial city and the wealth of the 'haute' bourgeoisie naturally found its way onto the facades of their new luxury town homes. Many of the designs were of the Art Nouveau style. I am particularly fond of this short-lived style because so much emphasis was placed on creating something unique, free flowing, and just a little 'off the scale.' ...Not so different from today's avant-garde and in a way it’s uniqueness expresses Latvian’s desire to be free and part of the European mainstream.
Alberta Street
After the revolution of 1905 a distinctively Latvian variation of Art Nouveau developed, known as National Romanticism. Architects started to use traditional Latvian folk elements and natural building materials. Typical elements were steep roofs, heavy structures and the use of ethnographic ornamental motifs.
Riga as a city made its first mark in history in the 1201. In that year, Albert the Bishop of Bremen established his first German fortress here. With his Knights of the Sword he executed a Crusade to the Baltic’s. The town started to prosper as a trading station. This resulted in joining the Hanseatic League in 1282. What makes it different is something to do with Latvia and Lithuania being the last two European countries to adopt Christianity in the 12th Century and as a result most of the traditional symbols and icons are distinctly pagan. Pre-Christian symbolism persists in Latvian folk tradition and can be seen in Art Nouveau buildings which display the face of Mother Nature and the look of intricately carved wood, both of which are distinctly Baltic features. It's a little eerie (and possibly fun) to walk down a dark side street and notice all these symbols normally associated with witchcraft and the devil.
Mother Nature
Walking around in Riga what most surprises is the eclectic architecture. Notably in the Old Town there is always a medieval highlight next to some Stalinist leftover. This diversity in styles adds a lively atmosphere to the town. Generally, Riga is less an open-air-museum like than Tallinn for example. The main reason for inclusion is Riga's fine collection of Art Nouveau buildings. They can be found a few blocks north from the city center. There are several streets adorned with great specimens. The buildings by Mikhail Eisenstein are well restored and freshly painted. Another feature of Riga are the 19th century wooden buildings. They are less prominent than the Art Nouveau ones, and less often renovated.
The architectural and artistic answer to the literary Modernist movement that began in the late 19th century was the Art Nouveau movement in Europe. The Art Nouveau movement reached its peak in the early 20th century, which is when the majority of Riga’s Art Nouveau houses were built, beginning in 1899. Riga’s term for the movement, Jugendstil, comes from the German and Scandinavian movement named after the avant-garde periodical Jugend (“Youth”). Unlike the stiffer sensibilities of Victorian style, Art Nouveau stressed a complete creative freedom, mixing fantastic elements with a tendency to show all utilitarian construction elements as artistic value, with very characteristic elements such as dynamic, undulating, and flowing lines and geometrical ornaments. In Riga, Art Nouveau could be split into two main directions, decorative and romantic-nationalistic Art Nouveau.
Jugendstil Frauenkopf
Riga is one of the largest centres of Art Nouveau, with more than a third of the buildings of its Central District built in the style; other significant centres include Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna, Krakow, and Moscow and St. Petersburg, among others. The main street for Riga’s Art Nouveau district is Elizabetes, which intersects Brivibas Boulevard. In addition to Elizabetes Street, Alberta and Strelnieku Streets also feature impressive examples of the style. In total, there are over 800 Art Nouveau buildings in Riga, but finding them all would be quite an ambitious undertaking, so I’ll try to guide you to the most noteworthy ones. Significantly, most of the Art Nouveau buildings were designed and built by Latvian architects.
Buildings in the decorative Art Nouveau style by one of the most famous architects, Mikhail Eisenstein can be found at Elizabetes 10a and 10b, as well as at Alberta 2, 2a, 4, 8 and 13. On Alberta 13 stands a building from 1904 which now houses the Riga Graduate School of Law, which is fully restored and publicly accessible. Right around the corner, Strelnieku Street also features eccentric examples of the style. Romantic-nationalist Art Nouveau can be seen in the buildings by Latvian architects E. Laube, K. Peksens, and A. Vanags, such as those on Terbatas Street 15/17 and Brivibas Street 47, 58, and 62. The most famous of the local architects was Mikhail Eisenstein. His son, Sergei, was a pioneer of early cinema. Ironically, Sergei moved to Moscow to make propaganda for the Bolsheviks who despised (and eventually destroyed) the same bourgeoisie that supported his father and fed him as a child.
Art Nouveau Staircase
More information can be learned about Art Nouveau and other architecture in Riga in the Latvian Museum of Architecture located in one of the Three Brothers in the Old Town. The Riga Art Nouveau Centre in Latvia, that used to be linked on the website of the City of Riga, now has its own website where the centre and Art Nouveau architectural heritage of the city are presented and where events related to Art Nouveau in Riga are listed. The Riga Art Nouveau Centre also moved into new premises in the Art Nouveau building located at 12, Alberta Street, the facade having being restored a few years ago and the interior still being in the restoration process.
This is their website; (Only in Latvian at the moment)
http://www.jugendstils.riga.lv/lv
Riga is a rewarding place to visit both for its Architecture and its vibrant urban life. The old town is richly textured with the wondrously titled “House of the Blackheads”, essentially a palace for visiting Hanseatic merchants. Due to their indulgent lifestyle they developed blackheads and turned this into a little joke by calling this rather rich palace after what was originally its nickname! The old town is a rich and rewarding mix with Swedish gun towers, a castle, museums, Art Nouveau district and many fine churches including St Peter’s Cathedral in the Baltic brick gothic style. St Petri has a lift to the top of the steeple affording good views of the city and the river Daugava on which it sits.
I’ll remember it for its energy, sense of purpose and historic and human interest which makes it such a worthwhile travel destination. The persistence of the ideals of personal freedom and free association cemented by trade of the Hanseatic League can be seen in the way the cities of the newly free Baltic countries have readopted their Hanseatic titles after gaining their freedom.
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/lbeck-queen-of-hansa.html
My abiding feeling coming back from Riga is how important freedom is to people who have been deprived of it and how much in the West we take it for granted, not something they will ever do in Riga which is watched over by the symbol of Latvian nationhood “The Freedom Monument.” The Art Nouveau District is another testament of the determination of the people of this small nation to look westwards and assert their unique culture, language and cultural identity. It is a deserving UNESCO World Heritage Site.
See also;
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/riga-capital-of-country-in-transition.html
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