The former St George’s Church houses a museum devoted to applied art from the art nouveau period to the present, including an impressive collection of furniture, woodcuts, tapestries and ceramics. The building’s foundations date back to 1207, when the Livonian Brothers of the Sword erected their castle here. Since the rest of the original knights' castle was levelled by rioting citizens at the end of the same century, it is the only building that remains intact from the birth of Rīga.
Museum of Decorative Arts & Design
Old Rīga
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.75 MILES
Like a huge painting that you can spend hours staring at, as your eye detects more and more intriguing details, this must-see Rīga sight is in fact a…
0.05 MILES
Forming the centrepiece of Rīga’s skyline, this Gothic church is thought to be around 800 years old, making it one of the oldest medieval buildings in the…
0.9 MILES
A real-life house of horrors, this imposing fin de siècle building is remembered by generations of Latvians as the local headquarters of the notorious…
1 MILES
There is hardly a place in Latvia that can tell such a poignant and optimistic story as this quietly stunning memorial. Žanis Lipke saved over 50 Jews…
Rīga Ghetto & Latvian Holocaust Museum
0.58 MILES
The centrepiece of this arresting and challenging museum is a wooden house with a reconstructed flat, like those that Jews had to move into when the Nazis…
3.97 MILES
Between 1941 and 1944, the Nazis – aided by Latvians – shot more than 35,000 Jews at 55 different sites in this forest. It is one of several killing sites…
Museum of the Barricades of 1991
0.12 MILES
Latvia's independence came after enormous struggles. One of the most remarkable stories involves the barricades built by thousands of citizens around…
22.52 MILES
These striking pine-covered cliffs loom above a pristine white-sand beach dissected by a glistening stream. This is one of the most enchanting places…
Nearby Old Rīga attractions
0.05 MILES
This quirky museum houses a collection of porcelain assembled in now-defunct local porcelain factories from Soviet times. One was run by Russians hailing…
0.05 MILES
Forming the centrepiece of Rīga’s skyline, this Gothic church is thought to be around 800 years old, making it one of the oldest medieval buildings in the…
0.08 MILES
A 13th- to 19th-century amalgam of Gothic and baroque styles, the church was first mentioned when the citizens installed catapults on its roof and…
0.1 MILES
A statue of St Roland, the city’s patron, takes pride of place on the square in front of the town hall.
0.1 MILES
Built in 1695 as the home of a wealthy German glazier, this sparsely furnished house offers insight into everyday life for Rīga's successful merchants…
0.11 MILES
Built in 1344 as a veritable fraternity house for the Blackheads guild of unmarried German merchants, the original house was bombed in 1941 and flattened…
0.11 MILES
Rīga's historic town hall was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt from scratch in 2003. A statue of St Roland, the city’s patron, takes pride of place on the…
8. Museum of the Barricades of 1991
0.12 MILES
Latvia's independence came after enormous struggles. One of the most remarkable stories involves the barricades built by thousands of citizens around…