Meet the Middle Ages
BackRiga
Riga lies 15 kilometres from the mouth of the River Dvina, by the Riga Bay. The town began to be built in the 12th century and was granted a town charter in 1201. It is one of the oldest towns on the Baltic coast. It was founded by merchants from northern Germany.
Through its location on the Dvina estuary, the town was important to the German merchants who wanted to control all trade in the Baltic region. From Riga mainly fur and flax, but also timber and tar was exported.
Riga was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1282, and onwards. The town was a base for the military order called the Teutonic Knights, which tried to conquer territory in the Baltic region. After the order had been defeated by Poland in 1561, Riga became a free commercial town. In 1581 Riga became Polish. The town was conquered in 1621 by Gustav Adolf II in his war against Poland.
Riga was one of the most important towns in the Swedish Baltic Empire until it was conquered by the Russians in 1710. The town belonged to Russia until 1918, when it became the capital of free Latvia. In 1940, Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union, but since 1991, Riga is once again the capital of the independent Latvian republic.
Riga has a well-preserved medieval town centre. In the cathedral, there is one of the greatest church-organs in Europe, an organ about which it is said that it "plays the wind and the water".