August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It will most likely not be ready by 2030. But that doesn’t stop us. What to expect from the Baltics? Is it affected by overtourism?
Taking a break from political and military history, we explored Jugendstil in Riga.
Jugendstil?
Jugendstil, literally ‘Youth Style’ in German, was the distinctive German and Austrian counterpart to Art Nouveau, flourishing roughly between 1895 and 1910 and leaving an enduring mark on the decorative arts, architecture, and design across central Europe.
It emerged as a conscious rejection of the historicism and neo-classicism promoted by the official art and architecture academies, instead embracing a fresh visual language that favoured individuality, modernity, and the integration of art into everyday life.
The name derived from the Munich-based art journal Jugend, founded by Georg Hirth in 1896, which became one of the key vehicles for disseminating the style.
While Jugendstil took root in Germany and Austria, it also spread to other parts of Europe, adapting to local traditions along the way.
Munich, Vienna, Weimar, Darmstadt
The style’s early centres included Munich, Vienna, and Weimar, as well as the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, established in 1901 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse.
Its leading figures encompassed a wide range of talents: the Swiss graphic artist Hermann Obrist; the versatile Otto Eckmann; the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde; and Austrians such as Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Gustav Klimt, and Koloman Moser.
Jugendstil drew upon the British Arts and Crafts movement and the so-called Modern Style, while Japanese woodblock prints provided inspiration for its flowing lines and asymmetrical compositions.
In Vienna, the Secessionist movement under Klimt’s leadership pushed Jugendstil towards more abstract and geometric forms, producing some of the movement’s most iconic works, including the Secession Building designed by Olbrich in 1898.
The origins of Jugendstil lay in the Munich Secession of 1892, a group of artists who split from the state-sponsored academic tradition. Similar breakaway movements followed in Vienna in 1897 and Berlin soon after.
Publications such as Jugend, Simplicissimus, and Pan became showcases for the new style, filled with illustrations that combined floral ornamentation, sinuous curves, and innovative typography.
Otto Eckmann, one of the most influential contributors, developed a love for swans that became a recurring motif of the movement. Richard Riemerschmid took Jugendstil into furniture, ceramics, and other applied arts with a geometric rigour that anticipated Art Deco.
Hermann Obrist introduced the celebrated ‘whiplash’ curve, drawn from plant forms, that became a hallmark of the style.
Gesamtkunstwerk
The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony embodied the Jugendstil ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk — the ‘total work of art’ — where architecture, interiors, and furnishings formed a unified whole.
Founded to stimulate both commerce and culture, the colony gathered leading designers such as Behrens, Christiansen, and Olbrich, who designed not only buildings but every detail of their interiors.
The Ernst Ludwig House, completed in 1901, with its semicircular entrance and flanking statues of ‘Force and Beauty‘, epitomised the bold departure from the earlier, floral-dominated phase of the style. Darmstadt’s architecture was confident and monumental, its decoration integrated into structure rather than applied as mere ornament.
Norway
Jugendstil also found unexpected territory in Norway after the fire of 23 January 1904 devastated the town of Ålesund.
Rebuilt with the support of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the work of Norwegian architects influenced by German design, the town became a rare example of a complete Jugendstil urban environment.
Henry van de Velde in Weimar
Henry van de Velde played a pivotal role in bringing Jugendstil to Weimar. A Belgian designer steeped in both Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts tradition, he moved to Germany in the late 1890s, undertaking commissions from Berlin to Chemnitz and creating interiors of striking originality. His silverware, ceramics, and furniture displayed a unity of form and function, with simplified curves replacing the more elaborate plant-inspired lines of early Jugendstil.
In 1905, with the patronage of the Grand Duke of Weimar, van de Velde founded the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts, further cementing the city’s role as a creative hub.
However, a scandal in 1906 over a Rodin sculpture commissioned by Count Harry Kessler undermined the school’s prestige, and Weimar’s prominence in Jugendstil waned until the Bauhaus revived its artistic ambitions in 1919.
Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens, another central figure, bridged Jugendstil and modernism. Initially a painter and illustrator, he joined the Darmstadt Colony in 1899 and designed his own house, down to its smallest details.
By the early 20th century, Behrens was increasingly engaged in industrial design, and in 1907 he co-founded the Deutscher Werkbund, inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement but focused on integrating artistry with modern manufacturing.
His work for AEG, notably the 1908–1909 turbine factory in Berlin, represented a decisive step towards modernist architecture. Among his assistants were Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier, figures who would dominate 20th-century design.
In Berlin
In Berlin, August Endell brought Jugendstil to interior design and decorative architecture, most famously in the fantastical interiors of the Buntes Theater (1901) and the ornamented façades of the Hackesche Höfe. The style’s graphic arts flourished alongside architecture: journals were filled with work by Otto Eckmann, Joseph Sattler, Josef Rudolf Witzel, Hans Christiansen, and Thomas Theodor Heine, who created posters, book covers, and magazine illustrations that blended text and image into a harmonious whole.
Typography was an important element, with custom-designed typefaces echoing the curving or geometric forms of the images they accompanied.
Furniture design
Furniture design in Jugendstil sought harmony between architecture and interior fittings, with designers such as Riemerschmid, Bruno Paul, Olbrich, and Eckmann producing chairs, tables, and cabinets that combined craftsmanship with artistic vision.
The unity of design extended to metalwork: the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik (WMF) became the world’s largest producer of household metalware in the style, and companies like Orivit created pewter objects with refined, modern forms.
By the time Jugendstil faded from prominence in the years leading to World War I, it had laid the groundwork for modern design in Germany and Austria. Its principles — the integration of art into all aspects of life, the embrace of modern materials and techniques, and the move away from historical imitation — continued to resonate in the work of the Bauhaus and other modernist movements.
Whether in the exuberant lines of early floral decoration, the disciplined geometry of later works, or the total artistic environments created in places like Darmstadt, Jugendstil represented a brief but brilliant flowering of creative energy that helped to shape the visual culture of modern Europe.
Jugendstil in Riga
Riga is often described as the world capital of Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil, and with good reason: around one third of all the buildings in the city’s centre belong to this style, making it the densest concentration anywhere in the world.
This extraordinary architectural legacy emerged during a short but intense period of prosperity, when Latvia’s capital, then part of the Russian Empire, experienced an unprecedented construction boom.
Between 1904 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, hundreds of new apartment blocks, public buildings and even suburban villas were built, most of them in the latest European style.
While the term Art Nouveau is more common internationally, in Riga the German term Jugendstil is equally apt, reflecting both the city’s Baltic German heritage and the style’s roots in the broader European movement.
The rapid rise of Jugendstil in Riga was fuelled by economic expansion and population growth. Between 1897 and 1913, Riga’s population increased by 88%, reaching 530,000 by 1914, making it the fifth-largest city in the Russian Empire.
This surge was accompanied by a major transformation of the city’s urban fabric. Medieval walls and gates had been dismantled in the mid-19th century and replaced with a belt of boulevards and gardens. Strict building regulations ensured a harmonious cityscape, with limits on height and density, while a regular grid plan encouraged coherent streetscapes.
Between 1910 and 1913 alone, 300 to 500 new buildings were erected each year, most of them outside the medieval old town, although notable examples also appeared within it.
The first Art Nouveau building in Riga, designed by Alfred Aschenkampff and Max Scherwinsky, was completed in 1899 on Audēju iela in the heart of the old city. Soon after, whole districts, such as the so-called ‘Quiet Centre‘, became showcases for the new style.
Homegrown architects
This architectural flowering was supported by a cadre of talented architects trained locally and abroad.
The establishment of the Faculty of Architecture at the Riga Polytechnic Institute in 1869 had already laid the foundations for a professional community capable of interpreting international styles in a local context.
Riga’s needs
These architects came from a variety of backgrounds — ethnic Latvians such as Eižens Laube, Konstantīns Pēkšēns and Jānis Alksnis; Baltic Germans like Bernhard Bielenstein and Rudolph Dohnberg; Jewish architects including Mikhail Eisenstein and Paul Mandelstamm — but they shared a willingness to adapt influences from Germany, Austria and Finland to Riga’s needs.
Many of the decorative elements, from sculptural reliefs to stained glass and majolica stoves, were produced locally by Riga-based firms whose work was also exported across the Russian Empire.
Like elsewhere in Europe, Art Nouveau in Riga emerged partly in reaction to the Eclecticism and historical revival styles of the 19th century.
Architects sought a more individualistic and rational architecture that expressed local traditions and made honest use of materials, with ornamentation integrated into the structure rather than applied superficially.
In Riga, Jugendstil is generally divided into four stylistic phases, though buildings often combine elements of more than one.
Four phases
The earliest phase, known as Eclectic or Decorative Art Nouveau, dominated until around 1905. Essentially a decorative adaptation of earlier Eclecticism, it retained rhythmic façades and historical references while introducing the flowing lines, floral motifs and symbolic figures of the new style. German influence was strong, as was the impact of Symbolism.
The most famous examples are the fantastically ornate façades along Alberta iela, many designed by Mikhail Eisenstein, whose theatrical masks, peacocks and mythological reliefs have become emblematic of Riga’s Art Nouveau.
By the later 1900s, a more rationalist phase emerged, the Perpendicular or Vertical style, marked by strong vertical lines, geometric ornament and façades that reflected the internal layout of the building.
Asymmetry became common, materials were chosen with care, and decoration was more stylised. Sometimes called Warenhausstil (‘department store style’) in German, it was well suited to commercial premises. About a third of Riga’s Art Nouveau buildings belong to this category.
The National Romantic phase, flourishing between 1905 and 1911, reflected the Latvian National Awakening and a conscious desire to express a distinctly Latvian identity in architecture.
While influenced by Finnish design, it incorporated local folk motifs, used natural stone and brick, and favoured earthy colours over bright ornamentation. The forms were monumental and solid, with decoration restrained yet symbolic. Laube’s 1908 building at Alberta iela 11 is a prime example.
The final phase, Neo-Classical Art Nouveau, appeared in the years immediately before the First World War. It drew on the language of Classical architecture, which had been common in the Russian Empire but less so in Riga, and combined monumental proportions with simplified late Art Nouveau detailing.
This style was especially popular for banks and other prestigious institutions, such as Paul Mandelstamm’s 1913 Commercial Bank of Riga building on Dome Square, now home to Latvijas Radio.
Today, the Jugendstil heritage of Riga is internationally recognised. The city’s historic centre, with its remarkable concentration of early 20th-century buildings, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
The Riga Art Nouveau Museum, housed in the former home of Konstantīns Pēkšēns and opened in 2009, is the only museum in the Baltic States devoted to the style. Inside, visitors can explore a carefully restored apartment and digital exhibitions that illuminate both the artistry and the social history of the era.
For those walking the streets, Jugendstil in Riga is not confined to a single district or a handful of monuments — it is a living presence in the urban fabric, a testament to a moment when a small Baltic city embraced modernity with exuberance, confidence and a distinctly local voice.
Riga Art Nouveau Museum
The Riga Art Nouveau Centre or Rīgas Jūgendstila centrs is the only museum in the Baltic States devoted entirely to the preservation and celebration of Art Nouveau heritage.
Housed at number 12, the building itself is as much a masterpiece as the exhibits within. Designed in 1903 by the eminent Latvian architect Konstantīns Pēkšēns, in collaboration with Eižens Laube, it was originally built as Pēkšēns’ private residence. Its imposing façade is adorned with ornamental reliefs depicting stylised motifs of plants and animals native to Latvia, a decorative theme that flows seamlessly into the interior. The building’s sweeping spiral staircase is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of its kind in Europe.
The museum offers two intertwined experiences: an authentic Art Nouveau apartment meticulously restored to its early 20th-century appearance, and a modern, interactive digital exhibition.
The apartment captures the very essence of the style, from its room layout, original wall paintings and ornate plafonds to the furnishings, tableware, artworks, clocks, clothing and embroidery that would once have been part of daily life in Riga.
The digital displays delve deeper into the architecture, design and art of the period, while also portraying the everyday rhythms of life in the city at the time. Visitors can design their own Art Nouveau interiors, watch films or even dress for a photograph in a purpose-built period photo studio.
Each room of the apartment has been carefully returned to its 1903 appearance, offering a journey through the domestic life of Riga’s Art Nouveau era.
The sitting room, painted in its original blue, was the social heart of the home, a place for receiving guests, discussing politics or Parisian fashion, listening to music or even dancing. Its floral motifs, inspired by Latvian nature, include an ornamental frieze of daisies along the upper walls, while the ceiling combines stucco daisy blossoms with painted ornamentation.
A bay window framed by wooden Art Nouveau decor offers a particularly striking feature, with original parquet flooring, tiles, windows and heating pipes preserved.
In the fireplace room, green walls set the tone for evenings gathered around the fire with friends and family. The chestnut leaf motif, found in the frieze and ceiling decorations, reflects the trees that line Riga’s boulevards.
The dining room, the most opulent in the apartment, was a space for both formal entertaining and family meals, remembered for its strict table etiquette. Here, two still-life ceiling paintings, stained-glass windows, decorative wall paintings and wooden panelling create a rich and stately atmosphere.
The bedroom, part of the apartment’s private quarters, was a sanctuary of rest. Its reddish-brown walls, divided into lighter and darker sections, are adorned with stylised wreaths of roses, one of the most popular motifs in Riga’s Art Nouveau interiors and a recurring theme in Latvian folk culture.
The kitchen, once the centre of constant activity, features surviving white and blue tiled walls, an original stove, pine flooring and fragments of decorative painting depicting young girls herding geese — a charming reminder of early 20th-century domestic artistry.
Life below stairs is represented in the maid’s room, a small, sparsely furnished space adjoining the kitchen, where practicality outweighed comfort. The bathroom, with its enamelled cast iron bathtub and faux painted tiles, speaks to the era’s growing emphasis on hygiene, while the lavatory recalls the arrival of modern plumbing, with fixtures supplied by early Riga manufacturers such as Jaksch & Co.
Together, the apartment and its displays offer an immersive glimpse into Riga’s golden age of Art Nouveau. More than a museum, it is a living portrait of a style, a city and a way of life at the dawn of the modern age.
The Janis Rozentāls and Rūdolfs Blaumanis Museum
Upstairs in the ninth flat of Alberta iela 12 in Riga lies the Janis Rozentāls and Rūdolfs Blaumanis Museum (Jaņa Rozentāla un Rūdolfa Blaumaņa muzejs), a rare opportunity to step directly into the artistic and cultural world of Latvia’s early 20th century.
From 1904 to 1915, this apartment was home to Janis Rozentāls, one of the founders of Latvian fine art, who lived here with his wife, the Finnish singer Elli Forssell, and their family. Rozentāls worked and entertained here, receiving notable Latvian and foreign cultural figures.
The flat was also shared, for a time, with his friend and fellow cultural luminary, the distinguished Latvian author Rūdolfs Blaumanis, who lived here as a subtenant between 1906 and 1908 and spent the final years of his life in these rooms.
Visitors can explore the family’s living spaces, including the sitting room, bedrooms and children’s room, many of which retain original furnishings and household objects preserved by the artist’s descendants.
Several unusual wall paintings created by Rozentāls himself have been carefully restored, bringing back the decorative vibrancy of the period. The artist’s studio, designed by Pēkšēns to Rozentāls’ own specifications, occupies the second floor of the flat and remains a highlight of the museum.
Here, works from different periods of Rozentāls’ career are displayed alongside pieces by his students, including Oto Skulme, Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš and Jānis Sudmalis, offering insight into his influence as both an artist and teacher.
One room of the museum is dedicated to Blaumanis, presenting his life and multifaceted creative output. The exhibition explores his work in literature, journalism and theatre, illustrating his place in the cultural life of Latvia at the turn of the century.
Beyond its historical interiors, the museum is also a living cultural venue, hosting temporary exhibitions, educational programmes, lectures and events on art, architecture and literature. More than simply preserving two remarkable lives, it offers a richly atmospheric glimpse into the intertwined worlds of Riga’s artistic and literary elite during the city’s golden age of Art Nouveau.
Visiting Alberta iela 12
When you combine both museums, visiting Alberta iela 12 is worth your time. When you go upstairs, buy a separate ticket. The attendant was visibly very, very tired of people not knowing the museums are not linked.
Baltic States 2025
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