OLD TOWN – SOUTH PART:
Town Hall Square, St Peters Church
The Old Town is the heart of Riga, where you can find old well preserved buildings, the castle, restaurants, souvenir shops and tall churches. It is where most tourists go, but actually it is only about 5% of Riga. The Old Town is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and reminds of Tallinn's old town as well as German hansa cities. Many of the most beautiful historic buildings, like St Peter's Church, the Town Hall and House of the Blackheads where either bombed during WWII or destroyed by fires, but have been rebuilt the latter decades after the fall of the Soviet rule. The Town Hall Square is the heart of the Old Town. Riga has some of the world's best examples of jugend style architecture.
TOWN HALL SQUARE (RATSLAUKUMS):
Town Hall Square (Ratslaukums in Latvian) is the heart of the Old Town. Here you find the Town Hall (not in this picture), St Peter's Church (background) and the House of the Blackheads (right).
The Town Hall, from which the square was named after. It was destroyed during the WWII and rebuilt as late as in 2003.
The House of the Blackheads (Strelnieku Idukums). The original building was built between 1580 and 1886 for the Brotherhood of Blackheads in the 14th century, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. The structure was bombed to a ruin in 1941 by the Germans. Not until 1995 the beautiful current building begun construction, and was completed in 1999.
Restoration works on the House of the Blackheads. Looks dangerous!
St Peter's Church, the most famous and tallest church in Riga. It is a Lutheran church that was first mentioned in 1209, and completed in 1746. The spire is 123m tall, one of the tallest in the world. Artillery fire destroyed the tower in 1941, but it was reconstructed in 1976, mostly in Baroque style.
St Peter's Church has an observation tower on top, that can be reached by elevator.
Marstaju iela with the cool Pirma Rock Café with its oversized electric guitar and lamp!
