Small & Great Guild Hall

Riga, Latvia

During the centuries of German economic domination, the guilds were Riga's power brokers. The former, dating from 1384, was the home of the merchants, while the latter held the city's artisans. These slightly different audiences are reflected in the respective usage of the buildings today: while the Great Guild is home to the Latvian Symphony Orchestra, its smaller cousin hosts conferences and the occasional disco. The Small Guild is now also open to the public during the day for a small admission fee of 1Ls.

References:

In Your Pocket

Address

Amatu iela 3-5, Riga, Latvia

See all sites in Riga

Details

Founded: 1384
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Latvia
Historical period: State of the Teutonic Order (Latvia)

More Information

www.inyourpocket.com

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Salaspils Concentration Camp (14,4 km)
Jelgava Palace (39,9 km)
St. Simeon’s and St. Anna’s Orthodox Cathedral (40,6 km)
Jungfernhof Concentration Camp (8,4 km)
Ikskile Church Ruins (28,1 km)
St. Anne's Church (40,9 km)
Vecdole Castle Ruins (13,2 km)
Daugavgriva Castle Ruins (11,7 km)

User Reviews

Ning Ding (2 years ago)
I attended an event here. The hall and corridors were amazing. It is in German style. You can imagine what the old days were like.

Willy Dinata (2 years ago)
The Small Guild is renowned for its elegant Gothic architecture, featuring a beautiful façade with intricate details. Today, it continues to play a cultural and historical role, hosting exhibitions, concerts, and other events.

Ash Janis (2 years ago)
It's a cultural center where a small stage & lot of audience can watch the show either music concert, play, dance etc... it also has screens to watch movies.

Fjodors Koldovs (5 years ago)
Visited several times, a nice looking building and inside historical things You can find

Valters Dāvids Ostrovskis (6 years ago)
Very fancy and appropriate place for political events. Service was one of the best I’ve seen

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Photo from Flickr, copyright Infomastern

Historic Site of the week

Visby Cathedral

Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.