A walk around Riga is like a visit to the museum of architecture, covering the period from Gothicism to Classicism. But the real treasure of the city is the largest and best-preserved collections of Art Nouveau buildings in the world. This fact was corroborated by UNESCO in 1997 and now the central section of Riga is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Due to this, Riga is sometimes called the "capital" of Art Nouveau.

    At the end of the 19th and on the dawn of the 20th century, a new architectural trend appeared, declaring the absolute refusal of imitation of any existing architectural styles. The new architectural style was called New Art - Art Nouveau (also referred to as "Jugendstil").

    The style is characterized by the simple geometrical figures and lines on the one hand, and elaborate splendor of the decor on the other hand. The facades of the buildings are adorned with elegant lines and geometrical figures, in places interchanging and often merging with flowery garlands. Architects strived to make useful details of the buildings such as balconies, windows etc. as expressive and decorative as possible. Awesome molded bas-reliefs, sculptures and statues portraying people, lions and mythical beasts such as sphinxes frequently are characteristic features of Art Nouveau. A lot of the most spectacular buildings were designed by Mikhail Eisenstein (1867-1921) - the father of Sergey Eisenstein, a famous moviemaker.

    The interiors of the Art Nouveau buildings are also imaginatively decorated. Magnificent frescoes and panels, lacy balconies, frilly ornamentation didn't serve any practical purpose, but were done mainly for aesthetic. Keen-eyed visitor could easily "read" the history of the house and the nature of the owner's business on the bas-reliefs allegorically displaying the scenes of the main events in the life of the family and depicting times of cheer and prosperity of wine business, blacksmiths, hunting, fishing, etc.

    The most explicit collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Riga is in Alberta Street, situated in the very heart of the city.