Views of Riga in the Museum Graphics Collection

The Museum collection contains several thousand graphic works. Of particular significance in the history of the city of Riga is the collection of views of the city of Riga accumulated in the Museum’s graphics collection, including comprehensive panoramic landscapes that provide evidence of the formation and development of the city’s image, buildings and silhouette from the 16th to the 20th century.

Panorama of Riga – before 1547. Author: Hans Johann Hasentöter, also Hasentödter, c. 1517 – c. 1586. Publisher: Henricus Petrus, 1508–1579. Paper, wood carving. 10,5 x 16,5 cm. (From: Cosmographia, 1550.)

Panorama of Riga. 1612. Author: Heinrich Thum. Publisher: Nicolauss Mollyn, c. 1550/1555–1625, Riga. Paper, copper engraving. 53,6×123,5 cm. (For illustration – a copy made by Jāzeps Delvers (1910–1984) in 1963).

Riga from a bird’s-eye view c. 1640. 1646. Author and publisher:  Matthäus Merian (1593–1650), in Frankfurt am Main. Paper, copper engraving. 24,3 x 29 cm. (From: Neuwe Archontologia Cosmica, 1646.)

Riga – metropolis of Livonia. C. 1720. Author: Friedrich Bernhard Werner (1690–1776). Manufacturer and publisher: Jeremias Wolff (1663-1724), in Augsburg. Paper, copper engraving. 38.2 x 109 cm.

View of the city of Riga from the Daugava. After 1815. Not earlier than 1815. Manufacturer: Jakob Geysser; following the model of a 1815 painting by Carl Traugott Fechhelm (1748–1819). Paper, lithography. 44 x 58.6 cm.

Riga, 1839. Author: Franz Seraph Hanfstängl (1804-1877) in Dresden. Publisher: Edmund Götschel (1810–1853), in Riga. Paper, lithography. 38,3 x 49 cm.

Farmers on the Daugava ice at the gates of Riga. 1842. Author: Theodor Heinrich Rickmann (1810–1848). Paper, pencil, watercolour. 28,5 x 42 cm.

Farmers on the Daugava ice at the gates of Riga, 1842. Manufacturer and publisher: Franz Seraph Hanfstängl (1804–1877), in Dresden; based on a drawing by Theodor Heinrich Rickmann (1810–1848). Paper, lithography. 26.3 x 38 cm.

Panorama of Riga. 1860s. Author unknown. Publisher: Institute of Bibliography (Bibliographisches Institut), Hildburghausen. Paper, steel engraving. 11 x 15 cm.

View of Riga from Vērmanes Garden park. 1863. Author and publisher: Carl Gotthard Hess (1818–1867). Paper, lithography. 21.7 x 43.6 cm.