Riga history

Throughout its turbulent history, Riga has been routinely sacked, occupied, reoccupied and then sacked again, by everyone from the Teutonic Knights and the Swedes, through to the French and the Polish.

In the 20th century came devastating invasions by the Nazis and Stalin. The Soviets left behind the eyesore housing estates on the city's periphery and some lingering Stalinist era architecture.