The Darkest 50 Years of Latvia
• 3 hours • Learn the history of Occupation in Latvia
In 2020 Latvia celebrated its 30th anniversary of the Restoration of Latvia's Independence, so you might not see lots of Soviet style buildings or areas anymore. However, you will never erase the hard memories tucked away in the hearts of local people.
About
Get a deeper insight of the Latvia’s Occupation era and learn about the very recent past life of Riga.
On this tour, you'll explore a whole different side of modern and culturally rich city by visiting sites and areas which still keep the hard memories of occupation time in Latvia.
You’ll learn about daily life in occupied Latvia and get to know more about the country's history under the Soviet and Nazi regimes.
The tour begins with a visit to Riga Panorama Observation deck at a so-called Stalin’s birthday cake building – one of few sites left from Soviet times heritage. From this high perch your guide will give you an overview of the city, pointing out most famous places of Soviet and Nazi times.
Back on ground level, let’s have a short stroll through Museum of the Riga Ghetto and Holocaust. A memorial wall carries over 70,000 names of Latvian Jews who fell victims to the Holocaust and about 25,000 names of Jews from other European countries who were brought to Riga to be murdered.
Afterwards we will have a little walk at Riga Central Market where one can get closer view to areas that hasn’t changed a lot since 1990.
The tour continues through the Riga Old Town to reach the Museum of Occupation to get a detailed information about Latvia’s history in the 20th century.
To wash away all the dark feelings after visit to museum, we’ll enjoy a local snack and a shot of Riga Black Balsam in a true Soviet-style cafe and bar.
Additional information
At the end of the tour your guide will offer you to show the way to KGB building – one of the darkest places of Soviet times in Latvia, so called “Cheka”.
It’s up to you to choose whether you want to visit it or not. Please note that an excursion in this building cannot be provided by our tour guide.
If you’re brave enough, after visiting the main exhibition, we suggest you explore the basement prison cells.