The House of Blackheads - Riga, Latvia
N 56° 56.857 E 024° 06.400
35V E 324019 N 6315280
The House of the Blackheads is a famous building in Riga's Old Town. It now functions as a museum.
Waymark Code: WM17A87
Location: Latvia
Date Posted: 01/12/2023
Views: 11
The House of the Blackheads (Latvian: Melngalvju nams) is a famous building in Riga's Old Town. It now functions as a museum.
The building and the square where it is located are also very nice. However, the old house is not as old as it looks.
Originally, the house was built for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried merchants, shipowners, and foreigners in Riga. The building was bombed to a ruin by the Germans on 28 June 1941 and the remains were demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The only thing left of the original building is the basement, which was emptied of soil and rubble in the 1990s.
The building was rebuilt between 1996 and 1999. All citizens could donate an amount for the rebuilding.
In the square in front of the buildings, the first Christmas tree in the world was placed in 1510, the story goes.
The square is also a place where you as a tourist are quickly contacted by various guides who want to show off the city of Riga. There may be many people gathered here at the site, and therefore also a risk of pickpockets. We did not experience that, but we also visited the place outside the tourist season.
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