Walk to the Art Nouveau district. Riga is like a museum of architecture, covering periods from Gothic to Classicism. But the real treasure of the city is the largest and best-preserved collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world. This fact was acknowledged by UNESCO in 1997 and today the centre of Riga is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Riga is sometimes called "the capital" of Art Nouveau thanks its heritage of 800 Art Nouveau buildings.
Visit the Art Nouveau Museum located in the apartment where the outstanding Latvian architect Konstantins Peksens (1859 - 1928) lived until 1907. The building housing the Art Nouveau Museum was constructed in 1903 as K. Peksens’ private residence. The building is notable for its extremely powerful dimensions and expressive silhouette. The ornamental reliefs, craftily incorporated in the architectonic shape, feature stylized motifs from the local flora and fauna such as pine cones and squirrels. The Art Nouveau staircase is among the most impressive not only in Riga but the whole of Europe. The 1903 interior has been renovated in the museum. The current display of the museum shows the characteristic furnishings of a Riga apartment in the beginning of the 20th century.
