We meet with our guide outside the House of the Blackheads. In the background St. Peter's Church (Latvian: Svētā Pētera baznīca).
St. John's Church (Latvian: Svētā Jāņa). It was originally the chapel of the Dominican monastery founded in 1234. According a popular story in the 15th century two monks wished to become saints and were immured in the wall. While they were still alive, Riga residents fed them through a special hole. Several skeletons were discovered during work to restore the church walls. It is assumed that these probably belong to people buried alive in the walls because popular superstition had it that this protected the church from being harmed.
Two open-mouthed heads can be seen high up on the outer wall of St. John's Church facing Skarnu Street. It is believed that monks used to sit and preach behind these mouths.
Konventa seta, the Convent Yard, is right in the center of Riga, and was where our hotel was situated
Konventa sēta is from the first half of the 13th century. It is some of the oldest part of Riga that has been preserved. Konventa seta was a kind of town in town with 4 gates which was (and still is!) locked during night so no thieves or other nasty person can enter the yard. The only entrance is through the hotel lobby.
Two storehouses opposite our room at the Konventa seta hotel. The merchants normally stored their goods at the upper floors in their houses, where it was easier to protect them from attach from rats and thefts. The lowest floor and the cellar was used for shops and taverns and the middle floor as living space.
During the centuries of German economic domination, the guilds were Riga's power brokers. The Great Guild, dating from 1384, was the home of the merchants. The house on the picture is not the Great Guild but a house opposite it build by a rich Russian merchant not allowed to be a member of the merchants guild. Instead he build a house higher than the Great Guild with two cats on the top shitting at the Great Guild.
Later, when the merchant was allowed to enter the guild, he turned the cat around, so it is now shitting away from the Great Guild.
The Swedish Gate (Latvian: Zviedru vārti) was established in 1698 as a part of the Riga Wall to provide access for the Swedish soldiers in barracks outside the city wall to the taverns in the street on the other side of the wall.
The Swedish Gate is simply made by cutting a hole in the house that formed a part of the city wall.
On our way to the three brothers. In the background the Riga Dome Cathedral
The Three Brothers (Latvian: Trīs brāļi) is a building complex consisting of three houses. It is the oldest complex of dwelling houses in Riga.
No comments:
Post a Comment