Museums
Art Museum Riga Bourse
(Makslas muzejs “Rigas Birza”) The museum has the biggest collection of foreign artworks in Latvia. Some drawings and paintings date back to the 15th century. One can see works of Dutch artists created in the 17th century, German paintings of the 17th-19th centuries and Belgian art works of the beginning of the 20th century.
Until 20.05 “Faberge and the Baltics”.
Until 3.06 Hendrik Valk /Netherlands/.
Aviation Museum One of the richest collections in Eastern Europe, the museum has war, passenger, sports and training planes and helicopters. You can see almost all the models of the famous Soviet MIGs, among them the world's fastest war plane MIG25.
Ethnographic Open-Air Museum (Etnografiskais Brivdabas muzejs) Authentic houses, farmsteads, windmills, wooden churches, and fishermen`s villages that represent different regions of Latvia of 16-19 centuries. Situated in a vast pine forest by the lake Jugla, it occupies an area of about a 100 hectares. On weekends you can watch traditional craftsmen at work. The museum even has its own bee-farm and you can taste honey which is served with country bread and a special drink brewed from honey. An unforgettable experience that you should not miss! Count on spending an entire day here. A must!
Exhibition
6.05 12.00-16.00 Day of Usini (opening of the summer season).
19.05 19.00-24.00 Night of the Museum.
2.06-3.06 10.00-17.00 Applied folk art fair.
16.06-17.06 12.00-17.00 Midsummer approaching.
Fire-fighting Museum of Latvia The museum is set upon the premises of a former fire station, built in 1912 and designed in Art Nouveau style. The collections focus on the history of fire-fighting in Latvia from the second half of the 19th century until the present time. Fire-fighting equipment, flags, uniforms, photographs and documents are on display.
History Museum of Latvia (Latvijas Vestures muzejs) Visitors can view the evolution of Latvia and its people from the Stone Age up to nowadays. The exhibits display a variety of themes – the ancient times, the history of medieval Riga castle, the lifestyle of peasants and manors in 18-19th c. One can also see the expressions of art nouveau in urban interior (turn of the 19th - 20th c.), as well as the foundation of the Republic of Latvia in 1918 and the beginning of Soviet times in 1940. The permanent exhibitions depict the history of education in Latvia, money in Latvia through centuries and Sacral art...
Until 23.01 German historical evidences
from the G. Graudinsh collection.
EXHIBITIONS:
2Jul/Aug Soviet Everyday Design.
Until 30.07 “Riga Money 800”.
Latvian Museum of Architecture Free admission. The museum is
located in the complex of medieval
dwelling houses christened “Three
Brothers”, in the oldest masonry
dwelling house in Riga (end of the
15th - beginning of the 16th century).
the collections of the museum hold
the biographical index of Latvian
architects and original works, including
outlines, sketches and drawings.
The museums’ exhibitions give an
idea about the development of contemporary
architecture and architectural
heritage.
EXHIBITIONS:
Until 22.01 Gunars Binde. Photo collection.
Feb “After the Wall. Traces of the Soviet Empire”. Erika Lusito /France/.
Latvian Photography Museum (Latvijas Fotografijas muzejs) The collection contains photographs,
from those developed by
the primitive techniques of the 19th
century to modern ones: transparencies,
negatives, photographic equipment,
documents of archival value,
books and magazines. The permanent
exhibition illustrates the growth
and development of photography in
Latvia from 1839 to 1941.
EXHIBITIONS:
1.03-1.04 “Zemgales Signs”. Harijs
Daina Liepins
“Kraslava”. Vitauts Mihalovskis.
5.04-6.05 “Queensland”. Elin Berge
/Sweden/
Motor Museum (Rigas Motormuzejs) Fans of unique automobiles shouldn`t miss the great opportunity to see the cars once owned by Stalin, Brezhnev and the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. The museum has a Latvian motor sport department with antique motorbikes and stories about them.
Museum and Documentation Centre "Jews in Latvia" Was created in 1990, when it became possible to preserve evidence of the Holocaust and Soviet repressions. Its collection consists of 10 000 unique items, showing way of life, traditions, public activities, achievements and tragic history of Jews in Latvia during 18th-20th centuries.
Museum of Decorative Art and Design
(Dekorativas makslas un Dizaina muzejs) The museum is located in the oldest surviving stone building in Riga, the former St. George's Church (1204). The display reflects the development of Latvian professional applied art and design from the end of the 19th century up to the 90's of the 20th century.
Exhibitions: EXHIBITION
9.05-30.05 “Saspele”. Ilze Volonte, Maris Cacka. Textiles.
15.05-27.05 “Sea of Talent– Coppice”. Fashion design.
25.05-5.08 “Latvia Paris 1925, 1937”.
15.06-28.10 Collection of Fashion Historian Aleksandr Vasilyev “Art Nouveau” from Paris.
Museum of Pharmacy This museum is located in a beautiful 18th century dwelling house in the middle of the Old Town. The displays trace the development of pharmacy in Latvia until 1940. Documents from the 17th to 19th centuries, old books, various drugs, production tools, samples of medecine manufactures by Latvian pharmaceutical firms, decorative labware and prescriptions from a fascinating collection. The museum also houses a drugstore with interior in 19th century style.
Museum of Riga's History and Navigation
(Rigas Vestures un Kugniecibas muzejs) Founded in 1773,
one of the oldest museums in Europe.
The museum shows how Riga
turned from a small settlement on
the bank of the river Rîdzene into a
big Hanseatic city. The second display
illustrates the history and development
of nautical navigation. You
can take a closer look at the lifestyle
of a typical Riga citizen living during
the times of the First Republic and
see the historical artefacts that have
been excavated in Riga in the last
few years. Admire the Column Hall,
built in 1778 in Classicism style.
EXHIBITIONS:
Until 14.05 “This is How an Animation is Created”.
Until 30.09 Riga’s Building Master Kristofs Haberlands.
Until 30.09 Juris Urtans – aerophotography.
Until 30.09 Late Middle-Age and
Pre-Industrialism archeology in Riga.
Until 30.11 “Silver Cup—21st century Renaissance”.
Until 30.12 Antons Buhholcs— numismatist and collector.
Until 30.12 The Dome Museum – Temple for Science and Art.
Museum of War (Kara muzejs) The formation of the Latvian Riflemen's regiments and the ensuing battles of WWI spurred the founding of this museum in 1916. The museum moved into the Powder Tower in 1919, known as the Sand Tower in the 17th century. The 15th century edifice in its own right holds great historical value and connection to warfare, its 2.5m-thick walls are still scarred and studded with old cannonballs...
National Museum of Art (Valsts Makslas muzejs) Here you may witness the advancement of Latvian art up to 1945. The museum has a rich collection, about 14 000 exhibits among which are works of famous Latvian and Russian painters such as V. Purvitis, Janis Rozentals, Nikolai Rerih and I. Aivazovsky.
EXIBITIONS:
Until 27.05 “Test”.
Natural History Museum of Latvia The Latvian Museum of Natural History can be considered one of the oldest museums in Latvia. It dates back to 1846 when the collection of the Riga Naturalists' Society was displayed in a seperate building. Spread over four floor the Museum of Nature displays a variety of fossils, plants and stuffed animals, complemented by valuable zoologic and geographical information. Computers upstairs for children.
Exhibition:
11.01-15.01 Apples.
25.01-4.03 Natural Colourants.
Occupation Museum of Latvia (Okupacijas muzejs) A glimpse into the complex past of Latvia from 1940 to 1991. An objective account of systematic attempts to destroy Latvia and its people by both Soviet and Nazi regimes. The unique artefacts and thematic exhibits on display provide an emotional testimony to the victims of totalitarianism and to the resistance movement. The tour ends with the regaining of Latvia's independence in 1991 the triumph of the people's un-relenting desire for freedom.
Riga Art Nouveau Museum Designed in
1903 by famous Latvian architect
Pékßéns, the museum refl ects an
apartment from that time period.
EXHIBITIONS
Until 16.01 “Alberta iela 12”. Jewellery by Edgars Kvjatkovskis.
Rundale Palace Don't miss the opportunity to see one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Latvia! This palace was designed and built between 1736 to 1740 by the renowned Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli – creator of St. Petersburg's famed Winter Palace. It was built as a summer residence for the Duke of Courland Ernst Johan Biron. Most of the palace's interior decorations were completed from 1765 to 1768. Johann Michael Graff, a sculptor from Berlin, made the sculptural design of the palace and two Italian painters created all the paintings on the ceilings and walls. The museum offers the following exhibitions: "Treasures in Rundale Palace" and "Time of Misery" (churches in Latvia). The museum offers rooms to the public for different festivities and is situated 79km from Riga. Go to Pilsrundale via Bauska. The family vault of the Dukes of Courland – the branch of the Rundale palace museum in Jelgava Palace is open on workdays 10.00 - 16.00, tel. 300 56 17.
EXHIBITIONS:
Sports Museum of Latvia In this museum you can view materials that reflect the development of sports in Latvia in the time period from the middle of the 18th century until today. In the library you can find presswork about the history of various sports, as well as books with sportsmen autographs. The museum organises exhibitions, lectures and social activities with the participations of sportsmen.
Stradinsh Museum of Medicine
(P. Stradina Medicinas vestures muzejs) The museum's collection is something that is morbid yet curious at the same time. Latvia's famous doctor Paul Stradins had been collecting these unique materials for more than 30 years and then donated them to the state. It is one of the largest museums of medicine in the world. See the ancient cures and treatments used during the plague epidemic.
EXHIBITIONS
10.05-6.09 “Hello Doctor!”.
18.05-13.09 “The Rise and Fall of Latvian Health Resorts”.
Sun Museum (Saules muzejs) The Europe’s only museum dedicated to the Sun is in Riga!
There are no two similar nations or cultures in this world...
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