Riga Art Nouveau Tour, 2

Barcelona, Paris, and Prague are still our favorites, but Riga is definitely
a must-see for the art nouveau enthusiast (also Nancy, Vienna, etc.)

Mint green

In an art nouveau store where Vicki stimulated the local
economy

Extreme wedding cake

One of the most famous and prolific of Riga's art nouveau architects;
father of the famous Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein...Battleship
Potemkin, etc. 

Home, briefly, for a very young Sir Isaiah Berlin, famous Oxford philosopher,
born in Riga

Block of Accord

Lots of caryatids in Riga

Most striking of them all, back on Elizabeth St., #10

The large faces must be 6 feet in size

Abiding impression of Riga art nouveau

Riga Art Nouveau Tour, 1

Our major art nouveau walking tour in Riga encompassed two neighborhoods, Elizabeth Street (my translation) and Alberta St. (ditto), and their environs. Again, we were guided by both our printed guidebook and by the Museum's excellent website. Again, we were reminded that great variety and diversity underlie art nouveau, like any artistic movement, and that much of this diversity relates to the locale and its history and stories. 

Starting on Elizabeth St.

The columns part of the "perpendicular" stage of art nouveau

in Riga

A bit of the wedding cake look...

Interesting...

Spikey head-gear

Ever more

Now on our way to Albert St...full wedding cake

Very famous

#4 Strelnieku St.

Another curiosity

Now on Alberta St.

A dozen or so, both sides of the street

Riga Downtown Scenes: Some Art Nouveau, Some Not

We did a few art nouveau walking tours in Riga, sometimes following a guidebook, sometimes the Art Nouveau Museum's walking tours, sometimes a combination of the two. We are easily distracted, moreover, and sometimes abandon the tour altogether in pursuit of other things...

The tour began at the Latvian National Opera, about as far from 
art nouveau as possible

But within sight, there was a real beauty, OK, maybe not exactly
art nouveau, but admirable nonetheless

Thus; the Italian Embassy; or possibly a gelateria

Sometimes the details were more interesting than the

whole edifice

Checking his messages

Another beauty

One of the few interiors open

A real head-scratcher

Atop the tower, one of Riga's icons...

An art deco here and there

Mixed messages

More deco

Foreshadowing what we'll see on the next tour, on
Elizabeth and Alberta streets