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Ethnographic Open-Air Museum
 The oldest open-air museum in Europe is located on the outskirts of Riga, on the banks of the Lake Jugla. To the present day, the given museum has no counterparts in other Baltic countries. Since the 1920s, the museum started to form itself when from all parts of the country people started bringing real dwelling houses and household structures of peasants, fishermen and craftsmen, as well as tools and artware. At present, you can observe about 90 traditional buildings at the museum – these are farms, mills, churches, fishermen’s villages, which have been transported to the museum from four regions of Latvia: Zemgale, Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale
Eighteen craftsmen or masters are currently working at the museum – weavers, blacksmiths, spoon-carvers, potters, wild-hive beekeepers and many others. During the folk arts and crafts fares you can purchase some original and even unique souvenirs made from wood, leather, amber, braids, as well as try yourself in some old craft. During Latvian national holidays, there are various open-air merrymakings in national costumes taking place at the museum, with songs and dances.
Newly-weds frequently visit the ethnographic open-air museum, so that a blacksmith would forge them a horseshoe for happiness.
This is a magnificent place for Saturday’s or Sunday’s peaceful family vacation in the open air.
The Museum of Riga's History and Navigation
 The Museum of Riga's History and Navigation was founded in the year of 1773, and at present it is one of the oldest museums in Europe. The exposition of the museum tells about the history of the city of Riga and the development of navigation since historical times. Riga’s proximity to the sea has always played a key role in the development of Latvian economics. There are more than 400 exhibits that are being currently stored and kept at the museum, such as: flotsams, navigation devices, maps, schemes, ship’s books, personal belongings of sailors, ship models, and many others. Also, the museum offers its visitors a collection of not only single-masted vessels dating back to the 10th century, the vessels which were used to transfer goods along the seaside, but also those contemporary, high-technology vessels. The exclusive collection of ship models is considered to be of special value.
Both children and adults will find something interesting at the present museum.
Paul Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine
 The museum was founded in the year of 1957, but it opened its doors to visitors only in 1961. The main exposition of the museum was the medical materials left and provided by professor Pauls Stradins. Professor Stradins came up with the idea to establish and open a medicine museum already in the 1930s of the 20th century, when his personal collection of medical exhibits became very well-known to public. Over time, the professor together with his colleagues and like-minded persons devised a whole collection of textbooks for medical students. At first, the largest part of the exposition comprised exhibits from the field of surgery and oncology, since Professor Stradins himself specialized exactly in the field of surgery–oncology, i.e. he himself was a surgeon-oncologist.The pharmacy section was established thanks to the personal collections of historian Davis Blumenthal and pharmacist Janis Maizite.
New exhibits are being added annually to the existing collection of the museum. Interactive events are always carried out in the museum’s hall, the events related to man’s health, in which each and every child and adult can obtain lots of new and useful information.
 The museum is located on the outskirts of Riga, but it is exactly the location that makes the museum appear even more attractive. There are more than 100 exhibits stored and kept at the museum – these are combat cars or military motor vehicles, sports motorcycles, limousines from private collections and garages of Kremlin (including the limousine used by Brezhnev), as well as there are various prizes stored and kept at the museum, also honours and medals belonging to distinguished auto enthusiasts of Latvia.Next to the museum, there is the well-known Carting Hall, where you can go for a ride like wind and thus feel yourself like a real racing car driver.
Latvian National Museum of Art
 The museum was founded in the year of 1869. The collection of the museum includes more than 52 000 exhibits. The whole extensive collection is divided into two parts: collection of Latvian art and collection of foreign art. The collection of Latvian art – is the largest in the whole world and reflects the history of the development of painting, graphic arts and sculpture in Latvia since the middle of the 18th century till present days.
The Museum of Decorative Art & Design
 The Museum of Decorative Art & Design was first opened in the year of 1989, and this is one of the youngest museums in entire Riga. The museum’s collection has been gathered with a view to preserve Latvian professional arts and crafts both of previous times and recent times. Predominantly, the museum gathers works of art produced by Latvian painters and designers, but there have also been numerous contributions from foreign masters, which are still being preserved at the museum. The Museum of Decorative Art & Design would frequently offer its visitors a variety of exhibitions. Here you can observe works of art made of leather, ceramics, glass and porcelain, as well as paintings and photographs.
The Museum of Nature
 The Museum of Nature was founded in the year of 1845, and it is one of the oldest museums in Latvia. The collection of the museum comprises more than 175 000 exhibits. The exposition consists of six sections: Geology, Botany, Zoology – entomology, Anthropology, preservation of wild life or environment conservation, as well as Palaeontology. On all four floors of the museum, you can observe ancient animal carcasses, plants, stuffed animals or birds, herbaria, as well as a number of different photographs. The museum would kindle the interest of both children and adults.
Latvian Railway Museum
 The museum was founded in the year of 1994. The premises of the museum themselves are located in the locomotive workshops which date back to the 19th century.You can take a look at the models of uniforms of railway employees, also dating back to the 19th century, various sorts of tickets, ancient railway time-tables, as well as different trackside equipment.
What is more, there is an operating model of a railway station available at the museum, where trains can be seen moving and producing characteristic sounds.
There are also real locomotives being preserved at the museum: German ones, Soviet ones, a passenger and bullet – proof salon wagon, narrow gauge railway platforms, a snow-removing machine, as well as a railway inspection trolley.
However, it has to be admitted that all of the exhibits mentioned above are preserved in a non-restored condition.
The Mentzendorff's House
 The Mentzendorff's House – is a museum which is located in the dwelling house dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, the house which once belonged to one wealthy merchantman of Riga. The house is truly unique in terms of its original wall and ceiling paintings, as well as the interior which is truly captivating. The vaults of the historical cellar of the museum contain an entire collection of various sorts of decorative dolls, which have been produced by skilful craftswomen of Riga city. Our contemporary craftswomen would still follow this tradition.
Visit the museum and have a good time, since it is exactly beauty that will save the world!
The Fire Fighting Museum
 The museum is located on the premise of a former engine house, the latter having been constructed in Art Nouveau style or Jugendstil in the year of 1911. You can trace the entire history of fire-fighting at the museum, starting from mid 19th century till present days. The museum’s exposition offers you fire engineering, uniforms worn by fire-fighters, rewards and prizes, as well as documents and photographs.
The Museum of Foreign Art
 The museum was founded in the year of 1920. The given museum has managed to collect the largest collection of works of foreign art in Latvia. Among the most significant and valuable collections of the museum are as follows: a collection of works of art of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Rome, Western Europe as well as the East.
Riga Porcelain Museum
 The one and only museum of Porcelain of its kind in the Baltic States was opened at the end of the year 2001. More than 6800 exhibits are preserved and kept at the museum – porcelain items, starting from the year of 1841. There is a special “red corner” in one of the halls of the museums. Here, the room is filled with works which are of communist symbolics, as well as statutes of Lenin and Stalin. At the museum, visitors can observe the very process of creation of porcelain goods; what is more, they can even take part in this process of creation of beauty themselves.
The “Arsenal” Museum
 “Arsenal” – is an architectural monument built in the style of Russian “Imperial” Classicism in Riga. This is a single-storey building with symmetrical arrangement, the length of the building being 135 meters. The museum preserves a collection of Latvian visual art, starting from mid 20th century to present days.
The Bank of Latvia Visitors' Center “Money World”
 The Bank of Latvia Visitors' Center “Money World” – is a contemporary educational and informative center, which provides its visitors with knowledge and information in the sphere of finances. The content of the exposition is meant for everyone who is interested in the questions related to the monetary policy, the turnover and history of money, as well as for those who want to take infallible financial decisions. The museum will also be interesting for children, i.e. for those over the age of 14.
The museum is located on the premises of the historical money repository of the Bank of Latvia.
The exposition is available on two floors within the total territory of 420 m2.
The exposition comprises 30 stands, 14 multimedia presentations, 12 short films and 7 computer games.
The Museum of Baron Munchausen
 The Museum of Baron Munchausen is famous for its originality, admittedly, as Baron Munchausen himself. The museum has opened the trail of the world’s greatest liar, i.e. Baron Munchausen, – the length of the trail is 5, 3 kilometres, and those who will take a stroll all along the trail will come face to face with a number of episodes featuring in the stories of Baron Munchausen. On their way, the visitors will meet the sultanic bees, the fly as large as a sheep, the flying fish, as well as the deer which has a small tree between his horns, the tree that has grown from a cherry pip, which, in turn, got in there after a gunshot, and many other surprises.
Ancient books comprising the stories of Baron Munchausen are also available at the museum, likewise such old-fashioned items as household stuff, paintings and coins, which were in circulation in Latvia in the year of 1744. Besides all that, there is a wax figure of the Baron, his collection of hunting trophies, his gun, as well as the canon ball on which he flew to Turkey, and many other items.
In the building of the museum, there is also a symbolically-rendered tavern dating back to the 18th century, which was constructed on the exact same place where Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Munchausen was staying while on his trip to Latvia.
Nowadays, the tavern has been completed in the national spirit, where guests are offered a glass of beer, a thick soup of vegetables and meat, pancakes with apple jam, as well as delicious tea.
The Turaida Castle
 The Turaida Caste and the open-air museum – is one of the most specially protected cultural monuments, the museum which was founded in the year of 1988. There are 39 historical buildings on the territory of the present open—air museum, the buildings which make up a natural monuments complex, as well as that of history and culture dating back to the 11th – 20th centuries – this is the Turaida Castle, the Church Mountain, the grave of Maija, the Rose of Turaida, as well as the wooden Lutheral church.Come visit Sigulda, and enjoy the real beauties of nature!!!
Riga Art Nouveau Museum
 The museum was opened quite recently, in April 2009, and it has no counterpart whatsoever in the whole world. The aim of the museum is preservation and popularisation of architectural diversity in the city of Riga. The new museum fully reveals the true meaning of Jugendstil or Art Nouveau, down to the smallest detail. |
