Author: Jānis Krastiņš, Dr. habil. arch.
These were mostly local architects who practised in Riga in the early 20th century. Most of them had studied at Riga Polytechnic Institute (RPI) at the Faculty of Architecture which opened in 1869. In 1874, Oskars Bārs was the first to receive a diploma of an architect, and in the mid-1890s, out of about 40 architects practising in Riga 25 were locally-bred. On the eve of World War I, 56 out of 70 architects working in Riga had graduated from RPI that supplied specialists not only to Latvia, but to the entire Baltic Region. Many architects who had graduated from RPI also worked in Poland and in remote corners of Russia. The new generation of professionals came with new ideas and a fresh approach to architecture – the exact qualities that make Art Nouveau stand apart from all previous historical and to a certain extent cosmopolitan styles.
More information will be available in the virtual exhibition, which will be established till April 2016.
