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WEDRIGA-20 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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The cat on the roof is one of the symbols of Riga. This sculpture is found on the roof of the House of Cats, built by a Latvian merchant in the 20th century. Several facts are linked with this famous cat.
One of them is that the sculptor fell to his death in the course of putting the sculpture in place.
Another curious fact was that the merchant was barred from joining the guild (because it was for Germans). Upset at this shame, he mounted 2 black cats on the roof of his house, with their rear ends both facing the Guild Hall (opposite the house) as a measure of protest. Later, after a lengthy court case, he was granted admission to the guild on the condition that he turns the cats around to a more elegant position (i.e., not pointing at the Guild Hall). They still grace the house today and they no longer point to the Guild House.
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WEDRIGA-21 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Colourful building lining one side of the Filharmonijas skvers (Philharmonic Square). The Philharmonic Square is strategically located amidst various buildings of interest such as the Great Guild (rightmost of photo) and the Cat House (not shown). A popular place on warm summer evenings when painters, musicians and souvenir craftsmen flock here to trade and practice their respective arts while tourists mingle with locals and practice their Latvian language skills in the cool shade of the terraces provided by various cafés. The flowers in a wavy pattern represent the waves of the old river of Riga.
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WEDRIGA-22 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Riga is popular also for its impressive large buildings which is usually colourful and decorated with fine sculptures. This is the back side of France embassy.
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WEDRIGA-23 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Close up of the main door and facade of the French Embassy.
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WEDRIGA-24 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Another impressive building, another embassy, this time that of Germany painted in salmon colour.
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WEDRIGA-25 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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The national Opera House of Latvia, beside the freedom monument square.
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WEDRIGA-26 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Saint Peter's church, few metres away from the old town square. St. Peters gothic church was originally built in 1209 but then it has been rebuilt 3 times in the same baroque style:
i) originally in wood in the 1660s,
ii) again in wood in the 18th century after it burnt down from a lightening strike
iii) and again from 1967-73, (this time in steel) after it was burned in World War II.
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WEDRIGA-27 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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At the top of the tower there is a rooster, one of the 3 symbols of Riga (= Rooster, Cat, House of Blackheads). The rooster have an interesting traditional sayings.
Tradition demanded that after the restoration of the St.Peter's Church tower, which has been plagued by misfortunes for centuries, the construction foreman must sit on the rooster's back, drink a glass of wine and then drop the glass to the ground. The number of fragments the glass splits into is the number of years the tower will remain standing. In 1746 the builder Johann Willburn dropped his emptied goblet of wine. The city's inhabitants were frightened when it fell into a passing hay cart and did not break at all, so they believed the tower would soon collapse. However it turned out that there was no need to believe in superstitions because the tower stood for 200 years until World War II, when it burnt down along with the church on June 29, 1941 - exactly on St.Peter's day. In his turn, in 1970 an architect dropped a glass of champagne from the restored church cock's back, and it broke into immeasurable specks of dust.
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WEDRIGA-28 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Photo of Malin in the middle of several bells of different size used in the dome Cathedral.
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WEDRIGA-29 :
Our Honeymoon part 3 - Riga, Latvia (Jul/05) |
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Sculpture of a pope at the side of the Dome cathedral. Note that the Pope John Paul II concelebrated a mass in this Cathedral in 1993
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