The House of the Blackhead Brotherhood is one of the most famous symbols of Riga. At the end of the 20th century, the building was reconstructed and regained its pre-war appearance. It houses a plaque commemorating the signing of the so-called Riga Treaty between Poland and Bolshevik Russia and Ukraine in 1921.

House of the Blackhead Brotherhood - history
One of the most important monuments in Riga is the House of the Blackhead Brotherhood. Today it is part of the reconstructed complex of buildings in the Old Town, which was destroyed during the Second World War. The building is located on the market square and belongs to the type of corporate buildings commonly known as Artus Courts. These were the seats of merchants' guilds, which - by founding permanent seats for themselves - deepened the process of integration of their community.

The building, originally called the New House, was built in 1334 in Gothic style and belonged to the Great Guild. From 1477, the upper floors of the New House were rented by the Blackfraternity. As a result of the thriving and large-scale activities of this organisation in the city, it gradually became the main tenant of the house, holding various ceremonies there. In 1687, the building became known as the Blackhead House.

The Blackhead Brotherhood took its name from one of its main patron saints, St Maurice (who was often depicted in iconography as a dark-skinned figure), which was also reflected in the house's coat of arms and many of its decorative motifs. The organisation consisted of young, unmarried merchants, mainly of German origin. The brotherhood also had its own fleet to defend cargo ships from pirates.

The building was rebuilt several times; at the beginning of the 17th century, the façade was enriched with Mannerist ornamentation on the model of Dutch-Flemish guild houses. The sculptures were made by the workshop of August Volz. In 1713. The Blackheads became the sole owners of the house. The manor received its final appearance between 1853 and 1859, at which time it was rebuilt due to its poor state of repair, as well as a change in the character of the Brotherhood, which evolved from a paramilitary organisation into a social and cultural one.

As a consequence of the war, its members fled to Germany, where the Brotherhood still exists today in Bremen. All the equipment in the building, especially the rich collection of silverware, was taken there. In 1941, the building was bombed by the Germans as part of Operation Barbarossa, and in 1948 its remains were blown up by the Soviet authorities. After Latvia regained its independence, it was decided to rebuild the monument. In 1996-1999, the building was reconstructed and given a pre-war appearance. The reconstruction involved local entrepreneurs and Latvians, who were able to buy special bricks for the reconstruction.

Blackhead Brotherhood House - architecture
The Blackheads' House is the most representative part of the architectural ensemble forming the southern frontage of the square. It is a two-storey brick building with a high gable roof, set on a rectangular plan, with a basement. The importance of the building is evidenced by the richly decorated front elevation on the side of the market square. It consists of two parts - a single-storey annex, filling in the gap created by the withdrawal of the Blackhead House from the neighbouring Schwab House, and a lofty gable wall, which is the dominant element of the establishment.

The ground floor section, varied by arcaded panels, incorporates an entrance gate with images of Our Lady and Child and St Maurice. The gable wall of the building is stepped. The step faults are filled in with clerestories with hardware ornamentation. The vertical edges of the front façade are accentuated with rustication. The main plane of the gable wall is segmented with pointed-arch blendes with profiled edges. The four central, uppermost panels feature statues on decorative consoles. The two outer statues depict the Roman gods Neptune and Mercury, while the inner statues are allegorical figures of Concord and Peace. Above the statues are the coats of arms of the Hanseatic cities of Riga, Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. The top of the building is topped by a bust of the legendary King Arthur, below which is a reconstruction of a 17th-century clock.

The rear, south elevation has a much more modest form with irregularly spaced elongated blendes, with no additional detailing or ornamentation. A wooden crane has been reconstructed in the gable finial, thus emphasising the merchant and warehouse character of the building.

Between 2012 and 2016, the monument was used for the needs of the Office of the President of Latvia due to the reconstruction of Riga Castle.

The House of the Blackheads is one of the most famous symbols of Riga. Today, it houses a museum where you can admire the original medieval cellars, as well as reconstructed representative halls, such as the ballroom with wall and ceiling decorations, along with a reconstructed collection of paintings of Swedish kings and Russian tsars.

House of the Blackhead Brotherhood - the Treaty of Riga
Few people probably know that this building also contains a Polish accent. This is because it is associated with the signing of the treaty between Poland and Bolshevik Russia and Ukraine on 18 March 1921. After the failure of the Polish-Bolshevik negotiations in Minsk, the Polish delegation proposed the then neutral Riga as the place for further talks.

In the course of the peace talks, held in the House of the Blackheads, the geopolitical arrangement was changed (change of borders), financial settlements were regulated, repatriation and revindication were regulated, including the return of cultural property, archives and documents taken out of the Polish lands after 1772.By virtue of the treaty's implementation, many works of art returned to Poland, including the furnishings of the Royal Castle and the palace in the Royal Łazienki in Warsaw, Jan Matejko's painting The Battle of Grunwald, 24 sculpted heads from the Wawel Hall, the statue of Prince Józef Poniatowski, 42 tapestries, 21 paintings by Bernard Bellott, banners, royal regalia, sculptures and paintings, as well as the furnishings of many Polish museums, archives and libraries, above all the Crown Archives, and a large part of manuscripts from the Załuski Library.

House of the Blackfriars - memorial plaque
The Treaty did not solve all the problems, but it certainly regulated the situation in this region of Europe as far as was then possible. Marshal Piłsudski received a despatch about the signing of the Treaty on the evening of 18th March, during a performance at Warsaw's Teatr Wielki, during celebrations marking the signing of the March Constitution on 17th March.

A plaque commemorating the signing of the treaty ending the Polish-Bolshevik War was unveiled in the staircase of the Blackhead House on 27 September 1994.