AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Rātslaukums—Town Hall Square—lies at the very core of Riga's Old Town and has been the city's civic heart for some seven centuries. Born in the late 13th century as the central market square, it is where Riga's town hall was raised, where merchants traded under the city's scales, and where proclamations were once read from a balcony. Today it reads as a beautifully reconstructed stage set of cobbles, ornate facades and monuments, each building telling the story of a medieval trading hub.↗
Much of what surrounds you is a deliberate act of memory. The square and its historic buildings were destroyed during World War II, and only in the late 1990s and early 2000s were they brought back: the opulent House of the Blackheads rebuilt in 1999, the Town Hall reopened in 2003 with a faithful historic facade over modern civic interiors, and a stone Roland once again standing at the centre. The result is one of Riga's most symbolic gathering places—where history, architecture and everyday city life meet.
A Market Square at the Centre of the City
The square took shape amid densely built Old Riga in the late 13th century as the market place (Marktplatz), and a town hall was soon erected on its edge—Riga's first city council is said to have met as early as 1226, with the Town Hall itself built at the start of the 14th century. Four old streets fed trade into the space—Tirgoņu, Kaļķu, Audēju and Kungu—and the part near the city scales was known as the "Scales Square."
