Jacob’s Barracks is a long former military complex on Torņa iela at the edge of Old Riga. Rebuilt and adapted over centuries, its repeated windows and red roofs mark the line of the city’s former fortifications.
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The long, yellow frontage of Jacob’s Barracks makes one side of Torņa iela feel almost like a continuous wall. Across the street are traces of Riga’s older defences, including the Swedish Gate and Powder Tower. The barracks belong to a later layer of that defensive landscape: soldiers needed somewhere to live as well as walls to defend.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- A wooden predecessor was completed in 1740.
- The masonry complex dates from the eighteenth century and has been repeatedly altered.
- The former barracks were adapted for civilian use in the 1990s.
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