Landmark

Riga Choral Synagogue Memorial

Riga, Latvia

Riga Choral Synagogue Memorial — Wikimedia Commons image

The remains and symbolic walls of Riga’s Great Choral Synagogue commemorate a Jewish place of worship destroyed in 1941 and honour people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

Guide preview

Low walls trace the place where Riga’s Great Choral Synagogue once stood. Fragments and symbolic masonry give shape to an absence: this was a place of worship and community life before its destruction during the Holocaust. The memorial is on Emīlijas Benjamiņas iela; older sources call the street Gogoļa iela. It is a place of remembrance, and visitors should approach it with care.

Continue exploring

Discover the full story

Keep reading with a travel pass and explore every full guide and tour.

Upgrade

Quick facts

  • The Great Choral Synagogue was built in 1868–1871 to a design by Paul von Hardenack.
  • It was burned on 4 July 1941 during the Nazi occupation.
  • A monument to Jewish rescuers was dedicated beside the site in 2007.

More places in Riga

architecture

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.

landmark

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.

museum

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.

architecture

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.

landmark

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.

market

Riga, LatviaGuide with pass

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.