Category: Neighbourhoods of Rīga

Neighborhoods of Rīga: Torņakalns – A place of remembrance of the history of Latvia

Image: The former country house Hartmann in the district of Torņakalns in Rīga. Click on the image to enlarge it. Recording: © Copyright May 2019 by Birk Karsten Ecke.

Torņakalns is a neighborhood of the Latvian Capital Rīga at the left bank of the Daugava River. The former name, when Rīga was still under the administration of the Baltic Germans, was Thorenzberg. We don’t have a better story, but perhaps the district’s name derives from a tower that stood opposite the Rīga Fortress and was meant to protect them from an enemy takeover. The district of Torņakalns is located directly opposite the old town. There is no better story. Thorenzberg was probably named after a watchtower from medieval. In fact, there was a high watchtower here, which warned the city and fortress of Riga of advancing enemies. And also in fact, the border to the Polish ruled Courland was only a few kilometers west. Torņakalns today has about 7.400 inhabitants and the population density is about 2.400 inhabitants per square kilometer. Torņakalns borders the neighborhoods of Āgenskalns, Ziepniekkalns, Atgāzene and Bieriņi.

View the whole post…

Neighborhoods of Rīga: Zolitūde

Image: The neighborhood of Zolitūde in Rīga. Multi-storey apartment buildings. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Zolitūde is a neighborhood of the Latvian capital Rīga, which is located several kilometers west of the left bank of the Daugava River, the so-called Pārdaugava. The neighborhood belongs to the suburb of Zemgale. In Zolitūde almost 20,000 people live in an area of less than 3 square kilometers. This district is mostly characterized by multi-storey apartment buildings from the 1980s shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Like all of these comparable neighborhoods in Rīga, Zolitūde was planned as a typical microrajon with schools, shops, bars and restaurants as well as administrative units. From a spatial and functional point of view, Zolitūde is generally a clearly identifiable neighborhood.

View the whole post…

Neighborhoods of Rīga: Skanste – The very modern heart of the capital of Latvia

Image: The Neighborhood of Skanste in Rīga. The modern multi-multi-storey apartment houses. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Skanste is a neighborhood in Rīga, it is located in the center of Riga, but administratively belongs to the Vidzeme suburb. It is the most modern part of the Latvian capital and is characterized by multi-storey apartment buildings. The landmark of this neighborhood are the Skanstes virsotnes – the needles of Skanste. Today there are around 12,000 people living in this area, but once it is completed there will be around 42,000. When the goals of the city planners come true, Skanste will become the economic heartbeat of Rīga and all of Latvia. The conditions are certainly not bad due to the proximity to the center and the available space.

View the whole post…

Neighborhoods of Rīga: Ziepniekkalns

Image: The neighborhood of Ziepnikkalns. Multi-storey residential house. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Ziepniekkalns is a neighborhood of the city of Riga in the Zemgale district. The neighborhood is located a few kilometers west of the left bank of the Daugava River, the so called Pārdaugavā. In large parts, Ziepnikkalns is a district that was planned and built in the 1970s and 1980s. Older parts goes back to the 18th century and it was called in German language Seifenberg. The center of Ziepniekkalns is the Ēbelmuiža Park, in the eastern part of which is the thickest oak in Pārdaugava. The modern Ziepnikkalns was built as a typical microrajon with multi-storey apartment houses, shops, schools and all things of daily use. But Ziepnikkalns also consists of detached houses.

View the whole post…

Neighbourhoods of Rīga: Sarkandaugava – A bloody battle, water submerged witches and a couple of historical industrial plants

Bild: Poliklinik im Stadtteil Sarkandaugava in Rīga. OLYMPUS OM-D E-M1 Mark II und M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12 - 40 mm 1:2.8 PRO. ISO 250 ¦ f/7.1 ¦ 12 mm ¦ 1/320 s ¦ kein Blitz. Klicken Sie auf das Bild um es zu vergrößern.

Sarkandaugava is a neighborhood of Rīga in the Northern District. Nearly 18.000 people live here at at a total area of ​​of about 7,596 square kilometres which is approximately 2.300 people per square kilometer. Within its current boundaries, Sarkandaugava is difficult to identify as a spatially cohesive and functionally connected territory of the city of Riga, as the neighborhood is very complex and its parts are primarily oriented to the Freeport of Riga or other industrial activities not directly related to the neighborhood. Sarkandaugava’s name derives from Red Daugava which in German language means Rote Düna. The intersection of Sarkandaugavas iela and Tilta iela is considered to be the center of Sarkandaugava.

View the whole post…