The golden cockerel
Atop the tower at 120 metres.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Karlis Ustups — CC BY-SA 4.0
Old Riga's tallest spire and its best view: the Gothic brick church of St Peter (first recorded in 1209) lifts its tower sixty-three metres to the observation gallery — and a hundred and twenty to the golden cockerel on its top. The tower's story is a chain of disasters: it collapsed once, lightning burned it repeatedly, and it was destroyed with the church in the bombing of 1941, then rebuilt in steel in the 1970s with a lift — which is what makes it today the city's easiest view: a lift raising you in seconds instead of hundreds of steps. From the gallery all Riga opens: the old town's red roofs, the Daugava river and its bridges, the covered market, the Stalinist Academy tower and the port. The interior is pure Gothic with tall piers, used for art exhibitions, and at its door stands the Bremen Town Musicians, a German gift of four animals peering through an iron curtain.
Atop the tower at 120 metres.
Four animals peering through the Iron Curtain.
Reformācijas laukums 1, Riga
House of the BlackheadsLatvia's most famous facade — and only thirty years old: the House of the Blackh2 minutes walk4.7
Museum of the Occupation of LatviaA black box on a square in the heart of Riga: the museum occupies a building rai2 minutes walk4.5
Līvu SquareAn open square in the heart of Riga's old town, ringed by cafés and restaurants 4 minutes walk4.5
Latvian National OperaA white classical temple on the canal bank: Riga's opera house was built in 18634 minutes walk4.6
Riga Cathedral and Dome SquareThe largest medieval church in the Baltic states, with an organ that was once th4 minutes walk4.8A 1990 gift from the German city of Bremen: the four animals peer through a cracked 'iron curtain' — a symbol of Europe's division ending, and rubbing their noses is said to bring luck.