The House of the Blackheads is the richly decorated gabled building on Town Hall Square (Rātslaukums) in Riga's Old Town. It was first recorded in 1334, and for centuries it was the meeting house of the Brotherhood of Blackheads, an association of unmarried foreign merchants. What you see today is a replica: the house was wrecked in 1941, its ruins were blown up in 1948, and it was rebuilt from the ground up in 1996–1999.
The House of the Blackheads at a glance
- Where: Rātslaukums 7, on Town Hall Square in the Old Town, facing Riga Town Hall.
- Built: first recorded in 1334 as the 'New House'; remodelled in the Dutch Renaissance style around 1620; destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt in 1996–1999.
- What it is today: a museum and event venue, with festive halls upstairs, a silver collection and exhibitions on Riga's trade and the brotherhood in the cellars.
- Time needed: 10–15 minutes for the facade and the square; about an hour if you go inside.
From merchants' hall to rubble and back
The building went up in the 1330s as the New House, where Riga's merchants and burghers met and held banquets. In the mid-15th century the town council began renting part of it to the Brotherhood of Blackheads, which is documented in Riga from 1413: a society of unmarried foreign traders, mostly Low German. Its patron was St Maurice, usually shown as a dark-skinned soldier, which is probably where both the name and the Moor's head on the brotherhood's coat of arms come from. By the 17th century the Blackheads were the house's sole occupants, and in 1713 they became its owners. Their halls received Russian tsars, Swedish kings and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The Blackheads left Riga in 1940, during the resettlement of the Baltic Germans. In the fighting of 1941 the house was shelled and burnt out, and in 1948 the Soviet authorities blew up the ruins. For almost fifty years the square had a gap where it had stood. After Latvia regained independence, archaeologists excavated the site from 1992 and construction of a replica began in 1996. It was finished for Riga's 800th anniversary and consecrated on 9 December 1999. From 2012 to 2016 it served as the temporary residence of the President of Latvia while Riga Castle was being reconstructed.
What to look for
- The gable: the tall front gable from the Dutch Renaissance remodelling of around 1620, crowded with scrolls, sculptures and ornaments.
- The astronomical clock on the facade, which shows more than just the time, including the phases of the moon.
- The coats of arms: the arms of the Hanseatic cities Riga, Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck, guarded by lions, a reminder of Riga's place in the Hanseatic League.
- The figures: allegorical statues on the facade, among them Neptune and Mercury, the gods of the sea and of trade. Several of the 19th-century sculptures came from the workshop of August Volz.
- The doorway: the two pillars by the entrance go back to 1522. The left one shows the Virgin and Child with Riga's coat of arms above, the right one an armed member of the brotherhood.
The first Christmas tree?
Riga claims that the Blackheads put up the world's first decorated Christmas tree in 1510, and a plaque on Town Hall Square marks the spot. Treat it as a tradition rather than a proven fact: Tallinn makes the same claim for its own Blackheads, with a date of 1441, and neither story is backed by firm evidence. The brotherhood also left a motto that came true: an inscription on the house asks, in essence, that if it should ever fall, it be built up again.
Tips for your visit
- Come early in the morning for a photo of the facade without crowds; for the whole gable, step back towards the Town Hall on the other side of the square.
- Concerts and private events take place in the halls, so some rooms can be closed on certain days. Check before you plan a visit inside.
- Combine it with St Peter's Church and the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia: both are only a couple of minutes away.
Nearby
- St Peter's Church: the Gothic church just behind the square, with a lift up the tower to a viewing platform over the Old Town.
- Statue of Roland: the knight on Town Hall Square is a copy; the original stone figure is kept inside St Peter's Church.
- Museum of the Occupation of Latvia: next to the square, it tells the story of the Soviet and Nazi occupations between 1940 and 1991.
- Riga Town Hall: across the square, also lost in the war and rebuilt in historical form in the early 2000s.
See Riga with World City Trail
Our Riga scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 40 minutes of walking. Among the places it includes are the Freedom Monument, the Laima Clock and the Latvian National Museum of Art.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Riga.
Play the Riga scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Riga →
Play the outdoor escape game in Riga →
Facts checked in October 2026.