Architecture of Riga, Latvia | Part 1

I have spent most of my life learning about my families history, or at least one branch of it. Those of you who don’t know me, I’m extremely fascinated with genealogy, and boast a family tree of over 2000 relatives. But, that’s a glory story for another day.

I had the opportunity to visit one of the most mentioned places in that part of my families history, Riga, Latvia, in the summer of 2012, and early fall. It was amazing because due to my family connections, I had many places to see, and was also invited to see many more.

I made two trips there. The first came as a half trip for the Mid-Summer festival I was invited to. Fun times. The second came at the end of my European tour, just after Stockholm, Sweden.

Riga is known around the world for boasting one of the most magnificent displays of Art Nouveau architecture, which I was so lucky to catch on a sunny evening walk. The final photograph is taken inside the Ghetto museum, which has the actual lampposts and cobblestone bricks that were transplanted from the ghetto of Riga, a few blocks away, to the museum. Just remembering the stories I read about it shake me to my very foundation.  This holocaust and WWII history is very tragic and not to be taken lightly, but if you’re interested to read more about it, wikipedia has a page on it.

This is Part I (find Part II here) of a II part exploration of the architecture in Riga.

Well, this is what I saw: