
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.
UpgradeQuick 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

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.