In mid-November of 2024, we took a quick, three-day trip from Paris to Riga, Latvia. One of the main purposes of the trip was that we are big Art Nouveau aficionados, and prior to the trip we learned that Riga has more Art Nouveau buildings than anywhere else in the world.
The flight was 2 hours and 40 minutes from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Riga, and the city is only a 15- minute ride from the airport.
Most of the significant Art Nouveau architecture is in the old quarter of Riga. We stayed at the Pullman Riga Old Town, located on an historic, cobblestoned square and within walking distance to almost all the attractions we visited. Note: For security reasons, the taxi driver was only allowed to drop us off at the entrance to the square, so we had to walk across to get to the hotel.
Inga Gravite, the rooms manager, ([email protected]), was kind enough to give us a tour of the hotel. The Pullman Riga Old Town—set within a handsome, four-story building from 1785—looks like a small boutique hotel from the outside but, inside, it has been converted into one of the largest hotels in Riga, with 154 rooms ranging from 250 square feet for a Superior Room to 1,250 square feet for the Presidential Suite on the top floor. (This suite also offers panoramic views of the city.) Our Premium Room was spacious and well-designed, with a super-thick and comfortable king mattress, oversized bathroom with a rain shower, and a comfy couch so we could work on our laptops. One of the nice surprises was the top floor, which has an indoor, lap pool, sauna and workout room. In summer, there’s an outdoor terraced café serving light bites and cocktails to accompany views of the skyline. Gravite mentioned that the hotel frequently hosts conferences, workshops and corporate meetings, and the lower level has over 8,000 square feet of meeting rooms.
We dined one night at the hotel at the award-winning Harper Woolf restaurant, named one of the top five in Riga. A series of intimate, small rooms (looking like caves), have luxurious blue velvet chairs, wood-top tables and low, flattering lighting. A specialty is their steak menu, and we savored a local, 60-day aged steak, perfectly cooked—medium rare—and accompanied by crispy fries. For dessert was a simple but moist Latvian honey cake.
One our second morning in Riga, the tourist office sent us a guide to give us a tour of the old quarter and the Art Nouveau sector. The well-versed and knowledgeable guide gave us a detailed history of the Art Nouveau architecture, sharing that there are over 800 Art Nouveau buildings in Riga, which are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The premier street, with some of the most extraordinary buildings, is Alberta Street—with majestic architectural details on the façades such as grand sculptures, intricate ironwork and extraordinary doors, all built between 1901 and 1908. The guide explained that even though the Art Nouveau period in Riga only lasted about 15 years, there were four distinct periods, including Eclectic Art Nouveau, Perpendicular Art Nouveau, National Romantic Art Nouveau and Neoclassical Art Nouveau.
Next, the guide took us to the Art Nouveau Center, also located on Alberta Street and the former home of Latvian architect Konstantīns Pēkšēn, who was responsible for the construction of many buildings from the period. The three-story apartment is an exemplary display of the furniture, art and objects of the period. The downstairs rooms had floral stencil moldings across the top of the walls, wood cabinets and hutches with inserts of stained glass, Eastern-inspired carpets, brocade and velvet drapes, porcelain fireplaces and an extraordinary, spiral staircase going to the upper floors.
After the tour, we went to the delightful Sienna Art Café. The opulent and sumptuous interior is a mélange of Art Nouveau and Art Deco furniture, lamps with fringed lampshades, brocade wallpaper, cabinets lined with rows of vintage, porcelain teapots, and stacks of vintage books and fashion magazines. Enjoying coffee served in a delicate white China cup trimmed in gold, we felt as though were immersed in a private salon from the turn of the century.
Nearby the café is the magnificent Nativity of Christ Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral opened 1884, with Czar Alexander II gifting 12 bells for the inauguration. Designed in the rich Neo-Byzantine style, one of the three exterior domes is covered in gold leaf paint, and the interior has three walls covered with icons and paintings done by some of the most important artists and craftsmen of the time.
The Art Museum Riga Bourse is housed in a former Venetian Renaissance palazzo from 1855 and specializes in foreign art collections from past centuries. Besides the impressive permanent collection, it also hosts temporary exhibitions. The current shows include one about the art of Japanese dolls, while the other comprises a collection of late Renaissance works from the Prado Museum in Madrid.
We found an excellent selection of restaurants in the Old Quarter, close to the hotel. Tēvocis Vaņa (Uncle Vanya) is a homey restaurant serving traditional Russian and eastern European cuisine. A large plate of potato pancakes served with a mound of smoked salmon and sour cream was heaven; this was followed by spinach pierogies stuffed with King crab meat and shrimp. Restaurant Domini Canes was a great lunch find, a modern restaurant amongst the medieval buildings in the Old Quarter, serving a contemporary menu. We had a soothing bowl of lentil soup, followed by a main course salad of goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, dried dates and sunflower seeds.
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