First full day in Latvia, we left our (Radisson Blu) Hotel on the unfashionable side of Riga and crossed the broad Daugava River on a windswept and ominously overcast morning for our guided city tour. We met our local guide, 27-year-old Mārtinš, at the Town Hall Square (Ratslaukums), a very central location which was the venue of the curiously named "House of Blackheads." Standing in front of a statue of the Frankish warrior Roland in the Square, Mārtinš, gave us the low-down on Riga's very extensive damage and subsequent rebirth after its clinical aerial bombardment during WWII. The old city was more or less totally rebuilt from the 1950s to the 1970s. They obviously did a real good job at reconstruction because many of the cathedrals and other buildings retain their authentically Medieval appearance.
Mārtinš is a part-time history tutor and part-time tour guide (everyone under 40 in Eastern Europe seems to have at least two jobs such is the general state of the economy!). He filled us in on the House of the Blackheads, certainly one of the most elaborate and gorgeous buildings in Riga, the crème de la crème of Vecrīga. The original 14th century building was one of the many structures to succumb to the onslaught from both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army, but the building with its wonderful Dutch Renaissance style twin facade was painstakingly rebuilt post-independence by the Latvians.
The building has a history going back to the powerful medieval Hanseatic League (encompassing both Riga and Tallinn), the Blackheads were an association of unmarried German merchants and shipowners and the House was a venue where apparently the bachelor boys liked to party - hard! The name's origin is not certain but there may be a connection with St Mauritius (sometimes called St Maurice), an 3rd century Roman soldier of African origins who is the Blackheads' patron saint. The facade has a kind of grand church-like triangular shape with a striking and colourful portal. It is located in a great position on the southern side of the Square (hard to miss!) facing the monument to St Roland previously mentioned. Presently, this grand Gothic building is officially home to the Latvian president.
The streetwise Mārtinš was definitely clued up on all things Riga, he seemed to know stacks of back stories and how the locals tend to think and act. He took us to so many places of interest whilst sharing valuable insights (with lots of witty asides thrown in). We also got a sampler of Riga's architecture - the older wooden structures, fashionable Art Nouveau blocks and some old Soviet buildings, very grey, unattractive functionalist buildings ... especially fitting this description is the Latvian Academy of Sciences with its echoes of the famous (infamous?) Soviet-built skyscraper, the Palace of Cultural and Science in Warsaw. Riga is known for its outstanding Art Nouveau architecture, many in the Jūgendstil (German 'youth' style). Some of the best examples are to be found in Alberta Isla, probably none better than the Eizenstein apartment building with the azure-tinted windows. Also very worthy of mention is the old KGB Building in Stabu iela.
Not far from the Academy of Sciences 'eyesore' Mārtinš took us to an interesting old church, The Lutheran Church of Jesus. What was special about this church was that it was an all-wood construction - in fact the biggest wooden building in Riga still surviving. When we got inside the church Mārtinš kneeled down to touch the nave floor (no, not that! ... this was more of a secular gesture). He knocked very deliberately and firmly once on the wooden floor, producing a remarkably resonant right along the entire length of the nave! Just amazing acoustics!
Mārtinš concluded his highly polished presentation by showing us a few off-the-(tourist)-beaten-track spots where you can get away from the crowds and chill out, including a very nice canal-side garden park in the city. The intermittent rain we encountered didn't manage to spoil our enjoyment of what was a very comprehensive and entertaining two-hour tour with masses of information and pointers on how to maximise one's limited time in Riga. The accomplished Mārtinš said goodbye to us at the canal, signing off with an unorthodox but nonetheless very athletic aerial foot-clap that would have done justice to an adroit Baltic seal!
