United Buddy Bears exhibition at Dome square
Persons visiting Dome Square will be greeted with 149 United Buddy Bears, which symbolizes tolerance between peoples. With such a motto, these two-meter high bears have been travelling the world since they were first exhibited in Berlin in 2002. The bears have already greeted over 40 million persons in 30 cities all over the world.
Every one of the 143 bear figures are painted individually by a known artist from the respective country. The Latvian bear figure is painted by Kaspars Zariņš, and symbolizes happiness and optimism. Furthermore, there are also five special bears, and this exhibition will also feature a Riga Bear, which will remain in the Latvian capital. The Riga Bear will be painted from sketches by children.
This will be the bears' first visit to the Baltics, which is Germany's gift to Latvian residents on the country's centenary. The exhibition is organized by the German Embassy in Riga in cooperation with the Riga City Council.
The exhibition of bears at Dome square will take place until August 22.
From May 4 new exhibition Latvia’s century – museums for Latvia’s 100th anniversary
The exhibition Latvia’s Century is a joint contribution of Latvian museums to reveal 100 years of Latvia and to provide an opportunity to see excellent historical objects stored at the museums in all regions of Latvia – Kurzeme, Sēlija, Vidzeme, Zemgale and Riga. These objects reflect the history of the Latvian people, land and country over the past centenary.
The exhibition is opened since 4 May 2018 at the expanded exhibition premises of the National History Museum of Latvia in Riga, Brīvības bulvāris 32.
The main idea of the exhibition is to create a joint present of Latvian museums dedicated to 100 years of the Republic of Latvia that would display holdings of many Latvian museums at one place. Content-wise the exhibition shows all stages of the history of the Latvian statehood, offering the visitors an exciting way to obtain a preview of the past and present values of the Latvian society. The exhibition is created for a diverse audience, different age groups and visitors with different background knowledge of history, therefore the attention is drawn to the diversity of contents and form, as well as to creation of printed catalogue, guides, audio guides and programme of events related to the exhibition.
The preparatory work of the exhibition started in the end of 2015. Along with a conceptual approval for the necessity of such an exhibition, in the autumn of 2016, a working group was established. The first stage of the conceptual work and the organisation of the exhibition was entrusted to the National History Museum of Latvia. After the development of the concept and thematic structure, the ideas of forms will be developed. Design and installation will be assigned to a winner of an open design competition announced in the summer of 2017.
It is planned to display the exhibition during entire period of celebration of Latvia’s centenary, from May 2018 until the beginning of 2021.
On July 1 procession of the Latvian Song and Dance Festival participants
During the week when Riga is taken over by the most magnificent Latvian festival — the Nationwide Song and Dance Festival — tens of thousands of singers and dancers from all over the country converge on the Latvian capital. The procession is seen as one of the festival's culminations. Both participants and organizers of the festival participate in the procession.
Participants of the Song and Dance Festival attend the procession wearing national costumes, holding flower bouquets and with chaplets of flowers, making this a beautiful parade of the ethnographic heritage. In order to greet the participants of the procession, thousands of people gather in the streets. The festival's procession has always positively charged both participants and spectators, because encouraging words of support and good wishes are shouted out at the procession.
This is a great opportunity to experience a festive atmosphere and to observe interaction of participants and supporters.
The colourful procession will start at Freedom Monument at 14.00 and will make its way through Rīga, along Brīvības iela and Stabu iela, this time ending at the special Celebration Quarter prepared for Celebration participants at the Skonto Stadium.
Latvian Song and Dance Festival 2018
From 30 June until 8 July, 2018, Riga will be taken over by the most grandiose festival in Latvia – the "Latvian Song and Dance Festival" gathering tens of thousands of singers and dancers from everywhere in Latvia, who will fill the city with sounds of folk music. This festival with its greatness, quality and diversity is a unique event on a world scale; therefore it has been included in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
As from 30 June every day Riga will experience exciting singing and dancing performances, starting with the opening concert at the Song Festival Park (Viestura dārzs), choir contests, dancer and brass band concerts and, of course, the most spectacular of all events – gala concert at the Mežaparks open-air stage.
This concert is considered to be the main part of the festival – it is a unique experience to listen to voices of more than 10 thousand singers. When singing generally beloved songs the choir becomes even bigger when the listeners join in creating euphoric atmosphere and indescribable feeling of togetherness.
Songs and singing are a fundamental part of the Latvian identity since the times, when the nation did not even have their own state. The first Latvian Sing and Dance Festival was held in 1873 and ever since this festival has gathered singers and listeners from all around Latvia. Thanks to this festival Latvians have developed choir singing traditions and Latvian choirs regularly win international choir contests.
Latvian Song and Dance Festival is held every five year and on 2018 it will be held already for the 25th time. Along with the Song Festival there will be many various activities in Riga – folk art fairs, amateur theatre performances and popular music concerts.
Click here for full XXVI Latvian Song and XVI Dance Celebration program.
Exhibition - Art Nouveau. It’s Beginnings, Influences and Original Nature
From 4 May until 5 august, 2018, in the Art Museum Riga Bourse rakes place the Exhibition - Art Nouveau. It’s Beginnings, Influences and Original Nature.
This exhibition is a story about the brightest expressions of Art Nouveau in Europe, visualized through painting, graphics, sculpture and the decorative arts. It marks out the beginnings, the roots and the flourishing of this style in Europe, allowing one to sense the originality of Latvian Art Nouveau more clearly, as well as showing the most prominent achievements from Art Nouveau metropolises. The exhibition is a coming together of different national schools with the goal of allowing its viewers to discover similarities, influences and differences on their own.
Latvia stands out against the rest of the world’s mass of art and styles for its original Art Nouveau heritage. The rapid development of the largest Baltic metropolis, Riga, at the turn of the century, stimulated creative expression in the fantasies of architects, who developed the Art Nouveau idea in decoratively rich facade design, colorful interiors and the harmony of the overall image. Even though the Art Nouveau in Riga is undeniably original and splendid, its roots and concept are deeply connected with processes in the other European countries.
Exhibition “Musclemen Legends” in the Art Nouveau Museum of Riga
The Art Nouveau period featured particular interest in the
unity of strength and beauty, the contrast of the strong and fragile and its
reflection in art and sport. This is the reason why the museum “Riga Art
Nouveau Centre” invites visitors to the exhibition “Musclemen Legends”, which
boasts a unique private collection – the medals of the beginning of the 20th
century and expressive photos of musclemen. The exhibition has been created to
mark the first golden medal in Greco-Roman wrestling won by the outstanding
Latvian wrestler Jānis Polis in the Pan-Russian Olympic Games in 1913. The
exhibition will be open until June 10.
The “Musclemen Legends” is the second exhibition created in
co-operation with the long-term friend of the museum Vladimirs Resetovs and
collector and athlete Aleksejs Kostirevs. The first time when Riga Art Nouveau
Centre introduced visitors to wrestling and heavy athletics in the Art Nouveau
age was in 2012 when the museum together with Vladimirs Rešetovs and Aleksejs
Kostirevs as well as the Sports Museum of Latvia organized the first exhibition
– the Age of Musclemen”. It provided insights into the development of wrestling
and heavy athletics at the beginning of 1900s and showed various sport devices
and photos featuring the Art Nouveau style.
This time the museum will present the photos from the
musclemen at the beginning of 1900s as well as competition advertisements,
programmes and unique medals and awards that have been won in innumerable
wrestling arenas. Latvian musclemen used to be popular participants in
tournaments and won competitions in different countries. On the verge of the
19th and 20th century sport clubs and associations were founded in the
territory of Latvia and the musclemen movement had a particular place in the society.
The sports had a particular role in the physical education of young people and
created a strong image of the man.
At the beginnings of 1900s in Riga and other places of
Latvia wrestling and heavy athletics societies and clubs were created and developed.
The wrestlers appeared in advertisements, postcards were published with the
portraits of the musclemen and moments from fights which were arranged at photo
studios. The strongest men in Latvia – Jānis Polis, Jānis Krauze, Jānis
Burgmeistars (participated in competitions under the name of Ivans Romanovs),
Jānis Leskinovičs and others – were recognized in public and respected, their
strength and athletic built featured in postcards and competition programmes.
Musclemen tournaments were very special events followed by dances and informal
parties. These fights, however, were not just a privilege of men, there were
also women whose photos will also be shown in the exhibition.
The museum “Riga Art Nouveau Centre” invites the visitors to
enjoy the interaction of strength and beauty in the exhibition “Musclemen
Legends” from April 13 – June 10. The museum is open from10.00 to 18.00 every
day, except Mondays.
Riga Restaurant week from 7 to 13 May,2018
During this special week, Riga’s restaurants open their doors to all gourmands willing to treat themselves to an array of delicious tastes for an especially affordable price of 15–20 euros for a three-course meal.
For the entire week, all the city’s residents and guests have the chance to enjoy the season’s best foods prepared by experienced and innovative chefs who give each meal a modern and sophisticated twist.
“Concerto Piccolo” — enjoy the unique sound of Riga Dome organ for 20 minutes
“Concerto Piccolo” gives the opportunity to relish one of
the most splendid and valuable historical organ in the outstanding acoustics of
Riga Dome.
The organ of Riga Dome is one of the greatest achievements of the art of organ building in the late Romantic Period, making it also an outstanding monument of music history. It has been closely linked with the most prominent Latvian organ players and composers in the last 120 years and has influenced the development of organ music in Latvia more than any other instrument.
All the organ players who have ever performed on the organ
of Riga Dome have not only acknowledged the unique opportunity, but have also
immersed into mastering the extraordinary qualities of the organ so that they
can convey the beauty, variety, and stylistic uniqueness of its sound further
to listeners.
“Concerto Piccolo” gives you approximately 20 minutes of
taking pleasure from the great acoustics of Riga Dome by listening to
well-known and loved music.
Concerts from May till September take place every day
12:00—12:20 (except for Sundays).
In October, November and December concerts take place on
Wednesdays and Saturdays from 12:00 -12:20.
Tickets can be purchased at the Riga Dome box office from
Monday to Saturday 10:00—17:00
The opening of the summer season in the Ethnographic Open Air Museum in the 1 May,2018
When trees blossom out and meadow flowers start to bloom, the Open-Air Museum opens the summer season. The museum becomes full of trills and birdsongs. After the winter season, houses and farms open their doors to guests, and craftsmen delight visitors with demonstration of various handicraft skills.
From 1 may all interior expositions of homesteads will be opened for visitors.
Contemporary crafts festival in the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum
On 5th-6th August from 10.00-17.00 in Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum will take place the Contemporary arts festival of Latvia.
Unlike the traditional ethnographic June Fair, the August Festival invites Latvian craftsmen who apply a wide variety of methods and materials, involving in their production of goods not only crafts skills, but also elements of technology development and modern design. The crafts combine the beautiful with the useful: artistic individuality, crafts skills and mercantile wisdom. The products represented at the festival have to reflect the demand of the modern society for unique products and at the same time to show alternatives to uniform mass products. Guests from the Baltic Sea region will participate in the festival.
Food products and catering services of the festival include modern and creative variations of the traditional Latvian cuisine and cuisine of other nations living in Latvia. A wide choice is available to guests.
Riga Flea Market
The Riga open-air flea market takes in the Spīķeri quarter. There you can find old knick-knacks and useful things, as well as original design objects, clothing and fashion accessories.
The market is set up in a spacious and pleasant square within the quarter. Historically, Spīķeri was made up of warehouses for goods to be sold in Riga, so this place isn’t foreign to merchants, and the market only revives that atmosphere.
Hereyou can mostly find old-fashioned objects and items of clothing, but new works by young designers are also available.
The market will take place in Spikeri creative quarter on 15th July, 5th August, 9th September, 7th October 2017, from 11:00-16:00.
Riga City Festival 2017
This year's Riga City Festival is dedicated to Riga's parks and gardens, inviting all city residents and guests for garden festivities in the city center, as well as in the suburbs.
During the festival, various outdoor cultural events will be held in Vērmane Park, Cathedral Gardeb, Zunda Garden, Dzegužkalns Park, Arkādija Park, Ziemeļblāzma Park and elsewhere. The extensive program of theatrical events and concerts will acquaint festival goers about the capital's parks and gardens, their history and what they look like today. As usual, various outdoor fairs will also be organized, where Latvian farmers and craftsmen will offer their products.
More information in the homepage www.rigassvetki.lv
Exhibition "Time Music. Timepieces from the collection of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation. XVII–XX cent."
The Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation has 70 different collections. Among them, there is the collection of timepieces numbering more than 500 items and their accessories. This collection covers the period from the 17th century to the present day. It represents different clock types: hourglasses and sundials, table clocks, mantelpiece clocks and tall clocks, pocket- and wristwatches. They were manufactured by well-known watchmakers and well-established companies in Europe, America, and Russia. The collection includes XVIII-XX century Latvian-made watches. Some of the timepieces have been handed down along with a legend as they had belonged to prominent public figures.
The exhibition showcases clocks and watches that are not part of the permanent exhibition, thus providing an opportunity for the visitors to gain a comprehensive picture of the whole collection.
Thanks to the professionalism and time-consuming contribution of the Museum restorers, in the run-up to the exhibition some of the timepieces have been restored and are running now so that the visitors can get acquainted with the different clock types as well as listen in to the "time music".
"Time Music" is performed without notation, without a conductor to direct the performance. It does not depend on our consent or desire. We just need to listen carefully to the message of this extraordinary orchestra: this time has one advantage over all the others – it is given to us.
Exhibition will be open until December 30, 2017.