The House of the Black Heads is one of the most visually arresting buildings in the Baltic states — a fantasy of stepped Flemish gables, gilded ornament, and candy-coloured stonework rising from Riga's central Town Hall Square. Built in the 14th century as a meeting hall for an association of unmarried foreign merchants, it takes its unusual name from the guild's patron saint, St. Mauritius, a Moorish warrior whose dark-skinned visage still appears on the facade. The original medieval structure was bombed during World War II, left to rot under Soviet occupation, and finally demolished in 1948. What stands today is a meticulous reconstruction completed in 2001, timed for Riga's 800th anniversary — and the quality of the rebuild is such that it feels entirely authentic.
Monument