Riga Map

• Riga, with its central geographic position and concentration of population, has always been the infrastructural hub of Latvia. Several national roads begin in Riga, and European route E22 crosses Riga from the east and west, while the Via Baltica crosses Riga from the south and north.

• As a city situated by a river, Riga also has several bridges. The oldest standing bridge is the Railway Bridge, which is also the only railroad carrying bridge in Riga. The Stone Bridge connects Old Riga and Pārdaugava; the Island Bridge connects Maskavas Forštate and Pārdaugava via Zaķusala; and the Shroud Bridge connects Old Riga and Pārdaugava via Ķīpsala. In 2008, the first stage of the new Southern Bridge route across the Daugava was completed, and was opened to traffic on November 17. The Southern Bridge is currently the biggest construction project in the Baltic states in 20 years, and it is to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre. Another major construction project is the planned Riga Northern Transport Corridor, which is scheduled to commence in 2010.

• The Freeport of Riga facilitates cargo and passenger traffic by sea. Sea ferries currently connect Riga to Stockholm and Lübeck, operated respectively by Tallink and DFDS Tor Line. The Latvian-flagged ferries MS Romantika and MS Silja Festival are located in the Riga Passenger Terminal.

• Riga has one active airport that serves commercial airlines — the Riga International Airport (RIX), built in 1973. Renovation and modernization of the airport was completed in 2001, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of the city. In 2006, a new terminal extension was opened. Work on an extension of the runway was completed in October 2008, and the airport is now able to accommodate large aircraft such as the Airbus A340, Boeing 747, 757, 767 and 777. The annual number of passengers has grown from 310,000 in 1993 to over 4 million in 2009. It has now become the largest airport in the Baltic States, and there are plans to construct a new terminal to cope with increasing passenger numbers.

• Riga was also home to an air base during the Cold War — Rumbula Air Base. Another airport, the Spilve Airport, is a former civilian and military airport in Riga located 5 km (3.11 mi) from Riga city centre, with active aircraft operating as early as the First World War. It became the first international airport of Riga in the 1930s, which, from 1937 linked the capital city with Helsinki via Tallinn, Warsaw via Vilnius, Berlin and Moscow via Kaunas. After World War II and the Soviet occupation, it was rebuilt into a 1950s-era airport, the hub of Aeroflot. A new ring taxiway and restored surface was added. The airport was closed for regular flights in the late 1980s. The terminal building still remains as a notable example of Stalin's neoclassical architecture.

• Public transportation in the city is provided by Rīgas Satiksme which operates a large nuber of trams, buses and trolleybuses on an extensive network of routes across the city. In addition, many private owners operate minibus services. Riga is connected to the rest of Latvia by trains operated by the national railway company Passenger Train, whose headquarters are in Riga. There are also international rail links to Russia and Estonia. Riga International Coach Terminal provides domestic and international connections by coach. Current plans envisage a trans-European rail link from Tallinn to Warsaw via Riga financed by the European Union, with the first phase to be completed by 2013.

• During these many centuries of war and changes of power in the Baltic, and despite demographic changes, the Baltic Germans in Riga had maintained a dominant position. By 1867 Riga's population was 42.9% German. Riga employed German as its official language of administration until the installation of Russian in 1891 as the official language in the Baltic provinces, as part of the policy of Russification of the non-Russian speaking territories of the Russian Empire, including Congress Poland, Finland and the Baltics, undertaken by Tsar Alexander III. More and more Latvians started moving to the city during the mid-19th century. The rise of a Latvian bourgeoisie made Riga a centre of the Latvian National Awakening with the founding of the Riga Latvian Association in 1868 and the organisation of the first national song festival in 1873. The nationalist movement of the Young Latvians was followed by the socialist New Current during the city's rapid industrialisation, culminating in the 1905 Revolution led by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party.

• Business and leisure travel to Riga have increased significantly in recent years because of improved infrastructure. Most tourists travel to Riga by air via Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states, which was renovated and modernised in 2001 on the occasion of Riga's 800th anniversary. In the near future, the face of Riga will undergo notable changes. The construction of a new landmark—the Latvian National Library building—began in the autumn of 2007 and was due to be complete by 2010. There have been some delays and work still continues. Currently discussions are underway in Riga council about the development of the central areas on the left bank of the Daugava. The major dispute surrounds plans to build skyscrapers in Ķīpsala, which UNESCO warned "could seriously endanger the status of the Historic Centre of Riga as a World Heritage Site." The construction of 3 buildings in Ķīpsala has already started — the Da Vinci complex (25 floors) and two high-rises called Z-Towers (30 floors). Almost all important Latvian financial institutions are located in Riga, including the Bank of Latvia, which is Latvia's central bank. Foreign commercial trade through Riga has been on the increase in recent years and received new impetus on May 1, 2004 when Latvia became a member of the European Union. Riga accounts for about half of the total industrial output of Latvia, focusing on the financial sector, public utilities, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, wood processing, printing and publishing, textiles and furniture, and communications equipment manufacturing. More than 50% of Latvian companies are registered in Riga region. The port of Riga is an important cargo shipping centre. It is the main all-weather port in the Baltic and is expected to grow in the next few years because of increased trade with other ex-Soviet states and the People's Republic of China.

• AirBaltic, the national airline of Latvia, has its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Riga. RAF-Avia has its head office in Riga.