Create Your Experience in Riga

Rediscover the treasures of the past and walk along the ethnographic museum's beautiful trails, where you will discover more than 100 wooden dwelling houses, windmills, churches and various other buildings, all in the middle of a magnificient pinewood forest.

The Open air museum contains no less than 140,000 items from Latvia's rich past which reflect the history and culture of this country over several generations.

If you would like to know how life once was in Latvia then the Open Air Museum can provide you with a very good impression of the Latvia of old. Everything from windmills to churches have been moved to this preservation site on the edge of the city.

The museum was founded in 1924 and is one of the oldest open-air museums in Europe.  Dwelling houses and other buildings of peasants, fishermen and craftsmen have been relocated here from all districts of Latvia. Highlights include a traditional roadside inn, a functioning windmill and a country church. It is even possible to attend church services at Usma church each sunday.

During the summer many organ and folk music festivals are held here, while seasonal celebrations, marking the turning of the seasons, can be experienced at the Latvian Ethnographic Museum throughout the year, including Christmas and New Year.