Cultivating a passion for culture in Latvia
Riga’s architectural gems hint at country’s turbulent past amid modern-day activities
RIGA, LATVIA— As we walk through the Riga Central Market, Martins Ritins stops at one vendor and says: “You need to try this.”
Latvians have a love affair with pork. I hadn’t tried any since arriving days before, so I had asked Ritins, Latvia’s most celebrated chef, to help me hunt down some traditional favourites.
He’s eager to show off speck, which, at its simplest, is pork fat on rye bread. Ritins says it’s less popular now that there’s an appetite for anything contemporary in cities such as Riga, but Latvians do indulge at Christmas.
In this market, which is housed within an old Zeppelin hangar, you can find any kind of food. Older ladies sell their freshly picked berries. Cheese makers display customary, gooey cheeses. Fishmongers tout an array of affordable smoked or pickled fish. There are dainty little jars of costly foie gras.
There’s a delicious blend of oldworld and modern here. This contrast spills into the streets, too.
Dome Square is bustling with people. A three-piece band is playing some fine bebop at the beer garden and the music is wafting down the narrow cobblestone streets.
Latvia has a passion for classical music and opera, love for ballet and appetite for the refined. You’ll find this energy in Riga.
The balance between old and new is palpable. Modern restaurants are housed in structures built hundreds of years ago. Boutiques and galleries nestle up to a huge barricading wall built in the 13th century.
Europeans are used to this dichotomy, but to many of us Canadians, whose history is short by comparison, the contrast can come across as surreal, like a masterful painting.
The best way to soak up the old town is by wandering in it. The city’s map shows a daunting maze of twisting streets, but Riga’s old town is small and sits on a river, which helps with orientation.
Take a lift up Riga St. Peter’s Church, first built in 1209. Few walls and pillars remain. It offers fantastic panoramic views of the old town’s red roofs, twisting streets and medieval monuments. From below, art is everywhere. Riga’s Historic Centre, the old town, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its density of art nouveau buildings, old wooden houses and web of medieval streets.
Athird of buildings were constructed in the art nouveau style, making it Europe’s leading destination for this type of architecture. Many of them are clustered on Elizabetes and Alberta Sts., where you’ll also find upscale cafés with locals, expats and tourists sipping fine espresso.
Then there are other architectural gems, such as House of Blackheads, a 14th-century building with an outstanding Dutch Renaissance facade. It was damaged and pillaged during the Second World War but rebuilt in 1999 as an exact copy.
Then there’s the Latvian National Opera and Ballet. Built in 1863, it looks like Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and sits amongst gardens next to the city’s canal. It is a considered the hub of Latvian musical and cultural life.
With these classic elements comes beauty and tradition, but it’s the contemporary aspects that bring the energy.
The country’s history is rowdy and without trajectory. First, there were pagans. Then, in1201, a German bishop is said to have founded Riga. Then Poland swooped in, then Sweden, then Russia.
Latvia had independence for 20 years until1940 when it was incorporated into the Soviet Union, then occupied by Nazi Germany, then turned over to the Soviets again. When Stalin set up shop, people, many of them farmers who refused to join a collective, were sent to Siberia or to remote Russia.
For a grim and all-too-real historic account of the atrocities, visit Corner House, the decaying former KGB headquarters now open to the public. My guide says “part of the building’s charm is its neglect.”
To end occupation, and true to their musical nature, Latvians — along with Estonians and Lithuanians — started a singing revolution.
“We wanted change but didn’t pick up weapons,” one local said. “You could feel the pulse, was a political time, a dynamic time.”
In 1989, they united in protest to create what was the world’s longest human chain. About two million people across three states (at a length of 675.5 kilometres) joined hands to demonstrate unity in their goal towards freedom. Latvia gained independence in 1991.
The present day is still being defined. There’s growing multiculturalism. Forty-one per cent of women are in leadership roles. Young chefs are training abroad, only to return and create modern cuisine. So splurge and dine at Vincents.
Music of all kinds fills the streets. Contemporary artists and street artists alike are making waves.
This is the exciting canvas you’ll see by wandering around Riga. Kristin Kent was hosted by the Embassy of Latvia, which did not review or approve the story.