Riga: The Hanseatic City on the Dvina
Riga, the capital of modern Latvia, was the principal channel through which the goods of the Russian north reached the markets of the West, and the city is one of the principal Hanseatic cities of the Baltic. The city was founded in 1201 by Albert of Riga, the bishop of Livonia, and the city was granted Lübeck law in the thirteenth century. The city grew rapidly, thanks to its position on the Dvina, the principal river of Livonia, and the city became the principal centre of the Russian trade in the Baltic.
The furs, wax, and timber
Riga’s principal trade was in furs, wax, and timber. The furs came from the vast forests of the Russian north, and the furs were brought to Riga by the merchants of the Russian hinterland. The furs were particularly prized in the West, and the fur trade was, in the late Middle Ages, one of the principal sources of Riga’s wealth. The wax and the timber were also important, and the wax and the timber were important exports from the Russian north.
Riga was also an important centre of the amber trade. The amber came from the Baltic coast to the north and west of Riga, and the amber was carried to Riga for processing and export.
A useful background: Riga was, in the 13th–15th centuries, the principal city of Livonia — the loose confederation of ecclesiastical states (the archbishoprics of Riga, Dorpat, and Ösel-Wiek, the bishopric of Courland, and the territories of the Livonian Order) that occupied what is now Latvia and Estonia. Riga was, in effect, the principal city of a Hanseatic-dominated ecclesiastical state, and the city’s commercial primacy was tied to the Livonian confederation’s political structure.
The architecture
Riga’s architecture is, in many ways, a remarkable blend of brick Gothic, Art Nouveau (Jugendstil), and wooden buildings. The city’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1997), and the old town is one of the principal tourist atrações of the Baltic region. The old town’s principal monuments include the Rātsnams, the town hall, which dates from the fourteenth century and which is one of the finest Gothic town halls in the Baltic. The town hall stands on the old town’s principal square, and the square is surrounded by a number of beautiful medieval buildings.
Riga’s old town also contains a number of important churches. The Rīgas Doms, the cathedral of the city, is a beautiful Gothic church that was built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Sv. Pētera baznīca, the Church of St. Peter, is a beautiful Gothic church that has been rebuilt several times, and the church’s tower is one of the landmarks of the city.
A specific note: the Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) district of Riga is, by some measures, the largest in the world, with over 700 buildings in the style. The district developed during Riga’s rapid growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the city was one of the principal ports of the Russian Empire. The Art Nouveau buildings are concentrated in a district southwest of the medieval old town, and they form a UNESCO World Heritage Site in their own right (as an extension of the medieval inscription, 1997).