Riga’s Town Hall Square was a centre of trade and civic government for centuries. Its present setting combines reconstructed buildings with newer architecture, making the square a place to read the city’s wartime destruction and subsequent rebuilding.
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A knight with a raised sword stands in Riga’s Town Hall Square, facing the civic buildings. This Roland is a copy, but the figure belongs to a much older tradition. The square itself tells a similar story: its role as a civic and trading centre is centuries old, while much of the setting visible today was rebuilt after the Second World War.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The square was a major trading place for centuries.
- Riga’s records mention a wooden Roland figure in the fifteenth century.
- The present Town Hall was rebuilt in 2003.
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