Riga, Latvia: Old castles and Soviet influence

Riga is the capital of Latvia, the central Baltic country, and in the past it was the biggest Hanseatic town in Eastern Baltics. The Hanseatic League (Hansa) was a mercantile league of medieval German towns and it was formed around the middle of the 12th century by German and Scandinavian seafaring merchants.

The building of the Blackheads' Organization was one of the most impressive architectural monuments in the city. This building of Gothic style, first mentioned in 1344, was seat of single merchants belonging to the Merchants' Guild. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during WWII but rebuilt in 1999.The great replica is shown below.

Riga Castle served as the seat of the secular power for a long time. The place on the banks of the Daugava was chosen on purpose to oversee all the ships that came into the port.
Now the President of Latvia has his residence in one wing of the castle.

Before the Soviet occupation Riga was an important economical centre. However, during the years immediately after WWII, Latvia lost great part of the population and was annexed to the USSR. The country was under Soviet dominance for about 50 years and some of the buildings from that time can still be observed near the Daugava river.