Thematic Museums

Rīga is one of the few European cities where Art Nouveau architecture, art and design objects have survived in great numbers. It is even called "the metropolis of Art Nouveau". There are 800 Art Nouveau buildings in Rīga, mostly located in the city's centre - particularly on Alberta Street. Riga Art Nouveau Centre can also be found on this street, in the former apartment of the renowned Latvian architect Konstantīns Pēkšēns, who lived and worked here till 1907 and designed this beautiful building.

The Museum of Decorative and Design Art is located in the former St. George’s Church building (1204), which is the oldest stone building in Riga. It features seven collections of decorative and design art work.

The Song and Dance Festival Room pays homage to the creation, development and continuation of the Latvian tradition of Song and Dance Festivals.

The Fashion Museum is the only museum dedicated to fashion and the fashion history in the Baltic States.

Porcelain - so sophisticated, luxurious and fragile, yet unimaginably different in the hands of inspired artists. The Riga Porcelain Museum unveils the exciting world of porcelain design development and manufacturing traditions from the middle of the 19th century until the 1990s and contemporary processes of porcelain art. The museum's collection consists of almost 8,000 objects.

The collection includes antique jeweled crowns and terrifying African helmet masks (all bewitched), 2-meter-high shaman hats and bonnets made of human hair, headbands of bark and gold-shining wedding headdress.

Museum's visitors, accompanied by a blind guide, get to know familiar objects in the complete darkness by using different senses – hearing, touch, smell and even taste.

A visit to the Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine is a journey into the history of medicine and the museum - the museum's expositions, descriptions of objects and the interior of the building reflect its various stages and allow the visitor learn about the history of medicine until the middle of the 20th century.

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Anatomy Museum is an unusual museum - a historical collection with a contemporary approach. It is the place to come in order to learn about the diversity of human bodies. It is a place where you can see what usually only surgeons or anatomists see. The collection was created in the first half of the 20th century, but has been available to the public since 2020.

The Riga Ghetto Museum opened its doors in 2010. It is located close to the border of the former Jewish Ghetto, in Latgales apkaime (Latgales suburb), a historical city quarter. Once inhabited by Russian merchants and Jews, the quarter has small wooden houses with aged but still elegant wooden carvings, paved winding streets and a unique aura. Many people come here nowadays to look for the places where their ancestors had once lived. The territory of the Riga Ghetto is unique, having barely changed in the last sixty years.

Come and see nature in the very heart of the city! The Latvian National Museum of Natural History is a genuine oasis of nature in the middle of civilisation - in the centre of Riga.

Established in 1989 and housed in the historical building of the former Jewish theater, the museum “Jews in Latvia” is dedicated to researching, promoting and commemorating the history of Latvia's Jewish community.

Chocolate making has always been wound in mystery. It is a difficult task finding someone who does not like chocolate. It is no surprise that people crave the opportunity to taste the best of Laima chocolates and to catch a glimpse behind the scenes of the wondrous chocolate making process.

There are many pharmacy museums in the world, and Riga also has one, opened in 1986. The Pharmacy Museum occupies three small and romantic 18th century houses in the very heart of Riga's Old Town. The museum has a cozy backyard with a small garden of healing herbs - after all, every pharmacy used to grow herbal ingredients for its needs in the past.

The museum's collections include a bibliographical list of Latvian architects and a collection of the most outstanding masters' works. The museum tells about the development of architecture and its role in culture.

Riga Film Museum, founded in 1988, is the only film museum in Latvia. The exhibition "Behind the Screen" welcomes you to the other side of the screen – look into the filmmaking process and see how film technologies have changed over time. Notable part of exhibition is dedicated to animation, offering to learn more about puppet, hand-drawn, cutout and digital animation.

Historic sports equipment and sportswear, photographs from a variety of sporting events - the Latvian Sports Museum offers extensive information on the greatest personalities in Latvian sports and the history of sports in Latvia, spanning several centuries.