
The World of Hat Museum in Riga presents headwear from different parts of the world, assembled by collector Kirill Babaev and displayed in a Vīlandes Street apartment.
Guide preview
A women’s headdress acquired at a night market in Chiang Mai became the start of a collection that eventually filled rooms in Riga. The World of Hat Museum presents headwear from different parts of the world, asking visitors to look at hats and headdresses as objects made and worn in particular communities.
Continue exploring
Discover the full story
Keep reading with a travel pass and explore every full guide and tour.
UpgradeQuick facts
- The collection began with an Akha woman’s headdress acquired in Chiang Mai in 2002.
- The museum displays headwear from different parts of the world.
- The listed museum entrance is through the courtyard at Vīlandes iela 7–12.
More places in Riga

10b Elizabetes Street
Elizabetes iela 10b is a 1903 Riga apartment building designed by Mikhail Eisenstein. Its blue upper façade, enormous sculpted faces and ornamental patterns show how published European design ideas were adapted into a distinctive Art Nouveau street front.

11 November Embankment
Riga’s 11 November Embankment follows the right bank of the Daugava beside Old Riga, combining a busy riverside route with a long history of trade and public gatherings.

1991 Barricades Museum
The 1991 Barricades Museum preserves objects, photographs and testimony from Latvia’s independence struggle. In Old Riga, its collection traces the volunteers who defended important sites and remembers those killed or injured during the January and August events.

4a Strēlnieku Street
The richly ornamented 1905 design at Strēlnieku iela 4a is associated with architect Mikhail Eisenstein. Originally combining a school and residences, it later housed a dormitory and now serves the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

AB Jetty
AB Jetty extends from the left bank of the Daugava in Riga, offering a walking route and views across the river towards the towers of the Old Town.

Āgenskalns Market
Āgenskalns Market is a neighbourhood food market on Riga’s left bank, centred on a red-brick hall designed by Reinhold Georg Schmaeling. Established at this site in 1898, it reopened its restored pavilion in 2022 with food sellers, cafés and community activities.