The Powder Tower () is situated in

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 ...

, Latvia, and originally a part of the defensive system of the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

. The current Powder Tower was built in 1650 and renovated in the years 1937 to 1940 when it was added to the structure of the

Latvian War Museum The Latvian War Museum () is a military museum in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The Latvian War Museum was established on 15 October 1916 as the Latvian Riflemen Battalion Museum. Initially the museum had its premises at Tērbatas Street 1/3. The ...

History

The tower was first mentioned in 1330 as the Sand Tower (the name apparently derives from the sand hills opposite the tower). The entrance to the tower was above the ground and the building could only be entered by a narrow staircase. During the Swedish attack on Poland of 1621, the entire tower was destroyed, except the basement, on which the now visible Powder Tower was built in 1650. In horizontal cross-section, the tower was horseshoe-shaped: in some places, the thick wall of the tower faced the outskirts, while the wall on the city side was made of wood (bricks at the time were an expensive building material). The name of the powder tower dates back to the 17th century when apparently gunpowder was stored in it. There were 11 cannons in the tower, and a "bomb catcher" was installed: between the fifth and sixth floors, a meter-thick ceiling of three layers of oak and pine logs was laid. Later in the tower was a prison, and

torture chamber A torture chamber is a room equipped, and sometimes specially constructed, for the infliction of torture.

s, weapons were stored until 1883. In the walls of the tower can be seen cannonballs, which were placed in commemoration of the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

Gallery

File:Powder Tower Riga.jpg, Early 20th century postcard File:Latvian War Museum01.JPG, Museum entrance File:Powder Tower in Riga, Latvia 1920s.jpg, Powder tower in 1920s.

References

Powder Tower

Towers completed in 1650 Towers in Riga Towers completed in 1940 {{Latvia-struct-stub