Brīvības iela (''Freedom Street'') is the central street of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, the capital and most populous city of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It is more than 12 km long, cutting across all of Riga, from the historical centre to the outskirts.

History

The street was the beginning of an important trade route - the road to the region of

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...

(Southern

Swedish Livonia Swedish Livonia () was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ösel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northe ...

) and the Russian city of

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

. It began with what is today Smilšu iela and went through Riga's suburbs. The city entrance next to the Powder Tower was initially the main entrance to Riga from the countryside. As the city expanded, the city gates moved more towards the east and the street was extended further. In the late 19th century and early 20th various

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

buildings were erected on what now is Brīvības iela. Throughout its history, the street and its three main parts were known as ''Große Sandstraße'' (before 1818), ''Aleksandrovskaya ulitsa (Александровская улица)''/''Alexanderstraße'' (1818–1923), ''Brīvības gatve'' (1923–1942, 1944–1950), '' Adolf-Hitler-Straße'' (1942–1944) and ''Ļeņina iela'' (1950–1991). Today, Brīvības iela is divided into three parts: *Brīvības bulvāris (boulevard) is the traditional name of the part from its beginning at the Freedom Monument to Elizabetes iela (572 m); *Brīvības iela from Elizabetes iela to Gaisa tilts bridge (3049 m); *Brīvības gatve from Gaisa tilts bridge to the city border (8450 m).

Notable buildings

Brīvības bulvāris

File:Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Riga.jpg, Nativity Cathedral, main

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

cathedral of Riga File:Elizabetes iela 55, Rīga, Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija, Latvia - panoramio (1).jpg,

Radisson Blu Radisson Blu is an international hotel brand managed and operated by Radisson Hotels, and owned by Choice Hotels, Jinjiang International and the Radisson Hotel Group. Founded as the SAS Hotels in 1960, the Radisson Blu brand name came into exi ...

Hotel Latvija, the only skyscraper of the street File:Gabinete de Ministerios de Letonia, Riga, Letonia, 2012-08-07, DD 01.JPG, Palace of Justice, seat of the

Government of Latvia The government of Latvia is the central government of the Republic of Latvia. The Constitution of Latvia () defines Latvia as a parliamentary republic represented by a unicameral parliament (Saeima) and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republ ...

and Supreme Court of Latvia File:Consejo de Abogados Letones, Riga, Letonia, 2012-08-07, DD 01.JPG, Riga Regional Court

Brīvības iela

File:Aleksandra Ņevska pareizticīgo baznīca - panoramio.jpg, Number 56 - St. Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church, built in 1825 File:2017-07-29-Corner house in Riga-JonasR.jpg, Number 61 - '' Corner House'', former building of the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

of the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

during the second Soviet occupation of Latvia; initially built as a residential house in 1911 File:Brīvības iela 33, Rīga, Latvia - panoramio.jpg, Brīvības iela 33 File:Brīvības iela 137.JPG, Brīvības iela 137, former A. Leutner Bicycle Works File:St. Gertrude New Church, Riga.JPG, St. Gertrude New Church File:Immeuble art nouveau (Riga) (7573888878).jpg, Number 99 - residential house by architect

Mikhail Eisenstein Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein (, ; – 2 July 1920) was a civil engineer and architect working in Riga, the present-day capital of Latvia, when the city was part of the Russian Empire. He was active as an architect in the city at a time of great ...

, father of Soviet filmmaker

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

; 1905 *

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

lived in 1838 - 1839 in a house at the intersection of Brīvības iela and Dzirnavu iela (Mühlenstraße). The house was destroyed but its location is now marked with a memorial plaque. * Number 34 - Building of the Riga Regional Court designed by

Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis (or ''Johann Friedrich Baumann'', May 23, 1834, Riga – March 19, 1891, Riga) was a Latvian, Baltic German architect. He was the first professional Latvian architect. Baumanis designed the Riga Circus in 1888. He was r ...

(1888) * Number 75 - Dailes Theatre, formerly State Academic Theatre of the Latvian SSR; 1976

Brīvības gatve

File:VEF 22-10-2016 (1).jpg, Historical building of VEF featuring a statue of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

holding a

thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

in the middle File:Palace of Culture VEF factory. Riga. 01.jpg, The VEF

Palace of Culture Palace of Culture (, , ''wénhuà gōng'', ) or House of Culture (Polish: ''dom kultury'') is a common name (generic term) for major Club (organization), club-houses (community centres) in the former Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern bloc ...

File:VEF Kultūras pils pēc atjaunošanas.jpg, The VEF

after restoration in 2019

External links

{{Authority control Streets in Riga