Great Guild Hall

The Great Guild Hall (Lielā ģilde) at Amatu iela 6 in Riga's Old Town, Latvia, was founded as the guildhall of the city's German merchants, who controlled much of the Baltic trade. The Great Guild was established in the 14th century, and a hall was built on the site around 1330, making it among the oldest civic buildings in the Old Town. Membership was limited to German merchants, and the guild dominated the city council for centuries, while the neighbouring Small Guild (Mazā ģilde), on the other side of Amatu iela, served the craftsmen. The two guilds were rivals, and a local legend tells that the black cats on the roof of a nearby house were turned away from the Great Guild in revenge for a refused membership, though this is a story rather than documented history. The present building owes its appearance to a rebuilding in a neo-Gothic style in the 1860s, designed by the architect Johann Daniel Felsko, who added a facade with pointed arches and a large hall inside. The interior includes the Great Hall with heraldic decoration, stained glass and carved wooden details, and the Small Hall, which are used for official events. The building survived the Second World War and Soviet period, and from the mid-20th century it housed the Latvian State Philharmonic. It was restored and adapted as the concert home of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1926, and the hall is known for its acoustics. Today the building functions mainly as a concert hall rather than a museum, so access to the interior is typically through concert tickets, while the exterior and surrounding streets can be seen at any time. The Great Guild Hall forms part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Centre of Riga and lies a short walk from Livu Square and Dome Square. Visitors with a particular interest in architecture will find it a good example of the 19th-century Gothic Revival in the Baltic region.