Facts About Riga
The city is served by Riga International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the Baltic states.
Riga is the capital city of Latvia.
Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member.
The city name is pronounced like: Ree-gah.
Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities and Union of Capitals of the European Union.
The total land area of Riga is 118 square miles.
The Biggest Airport in the Baltic States is the Riga International Aiport and it’s only located two minutes away from the city centre.
Riga is located 29 ft above sea level.
The historic centre of Riga was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997.
Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships and the 2013 World Women’s Curling Championship.
Riga is twinned with: Aalborg, Denmark; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Beijing, China; Bordeaux, France; Bremen, Germany; Cairns, Australia; Dallas, United States; Florence, Italy; Kaunas, Lithuania; Kyiv, Ukraine; Kobe, Japan; Minsk, Belarus; Moscow, Russia; Norrköping, Sweden; Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan; Rostock, Germany; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Santiago, Chile; Stockholm, Sweden; Suzhou, China; Taipei, Taiwan; Tallinn, Estonia; Tartu, Estonia; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Tbilisi, Georgia; Vilnius, Lithuania; Warsaw, Poland & Yerevan, Armenia.
The Population of Riga is 632,614, as of 2019
The city is located on both banks of the river Daugava which separates the city into two parts, Vecriga (Old Riga) and Pardaugava.
The river Daugava has been a trade route since antiquity, part of the Vikings’ Dvina-Dnieper navigation route to Byzantium.
The radio and TV tower of Riga is the tallest structure in Latvia and the Baltic States, and one of the tallest in the European Union, reaching 368.5 m.
The New Riga Theatre was opened in 1992.
Riga’s best-known institutions of higher education are the Riga Stradiņš University, Riga Technical University, and the University of Latvia.
By 1900 Riga was, after Moscow and St. Petersburg the most important city in the Russian Empire.
Riga is known for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th-century wooden architecture.
The Southern Bridge was the biggest construction project in the Baltic states in 20 years, and its purpose was to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre.
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