The beauty of Riga was totally unexpected. I am the kind of person who doesn’t really read the guide-book before going somewhere. Instead I get on the plane and start reading. At first the travel magazine and then my book. I got lucky with the magazine this time which had a long article on Riga. And it was here that I first read about the Art Noveau buildings of Riga.
I wasn’t sure if I really cared enough about it to walk in this area and look up some of these buildings (don’t @ me, I know I am a philistine). In any case already passing through the center I could see that these buildings and especially in this quantity were something special. So I took the time and sauntered through the Art Noveau area and my mouth just kept on hanging open. The opulence of the facades is in astonishing details; the different hairstyles of the women, the mystic animals and the overall richness is unbelievable. Yours, Pollybert
Two sphinxes are guarding the entrance. Here the sphinx in greater detail. I always thought that the sphinx had a nose like Cleopatra (at least Asterix taught me that) but upon closer look I really hope for her that it was not.
sphinx in detail @Riga
Here it is dragons which are looking down on you. See the door with its portal in a close up below, including another close up of just the dragon.
dragons on top of the doors @Riga
beautiful dragon with wings @Riga
This house looks like white and blue dream. Love the wavy hair of the woman below.
white and blue dream house @Riga
a woman’s head towering over the entrance @Riga
three-dimensional dragons overlooking an entrance area @Riga
another confectioner’s dream @Riga
the cellar gets portholes and the facade has waves like features @Riga
female heads are standing attention on both sides of the balcony @Riga
this house still needs some renovations nonetheless looks like a small fortress @Riga
two females standing with lifted arms @Riga
it has something of modern art @Riga
Atlases holding up the balconies @Riga
female with a flower wreath @Riga
the bare-breasted women look haughty @Riga
facade of the Latvian National Theatre @Riga
this looks like a male head to me @Riga
