About the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE

The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE is an architectural monument of national importance. It was built between 1852 and 1855 in the style of a Venetian Renaissance palazzo symbolising wealth and plenitude. The building was designed by the St. Petersburg architect of German descent – Harald Julius von Bosse (1812–1894). The museum's permanent display consists of Riga’s foreign art collections, which were accumulated over the centuries and now are part of the collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art.

In 2013 the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE was given a special commendation by the European Museum Forum becoming one of Europe’s eight most successful museums. The experts of the jury greatly appreciated the interaction between high quality reconstruction and the wonderful atmosphere provided for visitors.

The Art Museum RIGA BOURSE positions itself as a place for cultural exchange, where excellence is more important than the artist’s national origin. With its activities, the museum forms a bridge between Asia, Europe and America, offering a dialogue amongst expressions of classical and contemporary art in its displays and exhibitions.

The museum has seven permanent exhibitions. The fourth floor of the building has the European Art Gallery with 16th–20th century painting, sculpture, porcelain and the Silverware Chamber with 17th–20th century Baltic, Russian, and German silver. The third floor of the museum is home to the Asian Art Gallery with 17th –21st century Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Southeast Asian art. On the same floor, there is the Ancient Egypt Chamber displaying artefacts that are thousands of years old, the Ancient Greek and Roman Art Chamber showing ancient ceramics, numismatics and sculpture, and the Roerich Painting Gallery with Nicholas Roerich’s (1874–1947) painting collection.

With its impressive Scottish granite columns, the Large Exhibition Hall, which served as the stock exchange building's main business hall until the opening of the museum, is the place for major international art exhibition projects, while the historic Schaar & Caviezel basement is home to interest clubs. The museum actively organises international conferences, produces publications, and also engages in intensive educational work, offering visitors various thematic events, educational programmes, concerts and workshops, which are related to different cultures of the world.