Fun things to do in Riga

Riga’s Zoo is nice place for the long walks. In the past few years it had a lot of renewals- so looks nice and has a lot of different animals in it.

Just near the ZOO you can do a lot of different things, like take a boat and try your skills of rowing in the lake, rent some rollers or take a look at the carousels, who are still working and staying there since time of the Soviet Union.
That can be real fun!

On the 14th of June 1941, more than 16,000 people were deported to Siberia.
At the edge of the railroad tracks runnning past the Tornakalns railway station in Riga, there lies a stone with the numbers "1941." The sculptor of this memorial was called Ojars Feldbergs, who put it there in 1990, and it is a reminder of all the pain and suffering of the people who were deported to Siberia by the Soviet regime in 1941. It is by the Tornakalns station because many of the people were deported directly from the station. It also reminds of the pain and loss of the family and friends of the people who were sent away.

Originally built in the middle of 14th century, it was fully rebuilt in 2001 for Riga's 800th anniversary. In the Second World War these buildings were destroyed and now it is very great pleasure to see such great sights again.

Melngalvu nams (in Latvian) stands in town hall square near St. Peter's church, Roland statue, Occupation museum and river Danube. It was used as a residence for merchants to stay.

Who and why moved some of Berlin Wall to this side of the World? Actually it is nice to see it in Riga, as I don’t have possibility to see it in Berlin still. This place is located somewhere in the park near the Riga castle. Maybe wall not looks as impressive as architectural monuments, but we know it was a part of history, the symbol of two Cold War blocks.

The first castle built by the Order of the Sword Brothers around 1209 and originally named Wittgenstein Castle ("made of white stone"). In the 18th century it became a residence for Russian governor general. Now the castle is the president's residence.
It also houses two museums.

It is known, that first church in this place of city was built earlier than in 1418, later much time damaged, but have their own old style till these days (but only not so unique, of course). The new church was dedicated in 1869 and replaced old burned church. This new one is gothic too - face bricks, portals, finials, ledges, mullions are of concrete.

I walked there and found this church in my Riga travel guide, it was not mentioned as "must see place", but if you go to the central part of city in Brivibas street, surely nice to see this beauty and listen to the organs music inside.

The impressive building in which the museum is situated was built in 1905 and it is the oldest of its kind in the Baltic States.
The museum has 52.000 objects and naturally the focus is on Latvian Art, but there are also lots of paintings from other Baltic and Russian artists.
Apart from the permanent collection there are always temporary exhibitions to visit.
The Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

This monument is probably the saddest and bloodiest of them all. As the name very efficiently explains, this monument is to recognize the unfortunate people who were killed and tortured by Communists and Soviets in general. It first came to people's minds after Latvia regained it's independence, that their families and loved ones who where either deported to Siberia or just killed should receive some kind of moral compensation for all their suffering. It was long debated on the location of the memorial, but eventually they decided to place it at the Tornkalns railway station, probably because it was also the place from where many Latvians were sent to Siberia in small train wagons in 1941. The monument was dedicated on the 14th of June 2001 (14 June 1941 was when the first major deportations took place) by President Vaira Vike-Freiberga herself. The monument was made by a Latvian architect P. Jaunzems and consists of a series of rocks that represent the three generations that were tortured by the deportations.