If You're Nearby
House of the Blackheads
The ornate guild hall of Riga's unmarried merchants on Town Hall Square, destroyed in the war and rebuilt brick by brick.
- Open
- Closed Mondays
- Price
- Paid; the square is free
- Time Needed
- 1 hour
- Address
- Rātslaukums 7, LV-1050 RigaDirections
- Getting There
- On Town Hall Square, in the Old Town.
Why Go
The house was built in the 14th century for the city's merchant guilds and later taken over by the Brotherhood of Blackheads, foreign merchants who were not yet married. Bombed in 1941 and cleared by the Soviets, it was rebuilt for the city's 800th birthday in 2001, with its gilded Dutch gable and astronomical clock.
A plaque on the square marks where, the city says, the Blackheads decorated the first Christmas tree in 1510.
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