The House of the Blackheads – History

One of Riga’s most important historical monuments is the House of the Blackheads. Today, it forms part of the reconstructed Old Town complex, which was destroyed during the Second World War. The building is situated on the market square and belongs to a type of guild building commonly known as the Artus Courts. These were the headquarters of merchants’ guilds, which – by establishing permanent headquarters – fostered greater integration within their community.

The building, originally named the New House, was built in 1334 in the Gothic style and belonged to the Great Guild. From 1477, the upper floors of the New House were rented by the Brotherhood of the Blackheads. As a result of the organisation’s vigorous and wide-ranging activities in the city, it gradually became the building’s principal tenant, organising various kinds of celebrations there. In 1687, the building came to be known as the House of the Blackheads.

The name of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads derives from one of its principal patron saints – St Maurice (who was often depicted in iconography as a figure with dark skin), a fact also reflected in the coat of arms and many of the building’s decorative motifs. The organisation comprised young, unmarried merchants, mainly of German origin. The Brotherhood also maintained its own fleet to defend merchant ships against pirates.

The building was rebuilt on numerous occasions; at the beginning of the 17th century, the façade was embellished with Mannerist ornamentation modelled on Dutch-Flemish guild houses. The sculptures were created by the workshop of August Volz. In 1713, the Blackheads became the sole owners of the house. The mansion acquired its final appearance between 1853 and 1859. It was rebuilt at that time due to its poor structural condition, as well as a change in the nature of the Brotherhood, which had transformed from a paramilitary organisation into a socio-cultural one.

As a result of the war, its members fled to Germany, where the Brotherhood continues to exist to this day in Bremen. All the building’s furnishings, in particular its extensive collection of silverware, were also 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 historic building. Between 1996 and 1999, the building was reconstructed to restore its pre-war appearance. Local businesspeople and Latvians were involved in the reconstruction, having the opportunity to purchase special ‘bricks’ to support the project.

The Blackheads’ House – architecture

The House of the Blackheads is the most imposing part of the architectural complex forming the southern frontage of the market square. It is a two-storey, brick building with a high gable roof, built on a rectangular plan and featuring a basement. The building’s significance is evident in its richly decorated front façade facing the market square. It consists of two parts – a single-storey annexe, filling the gap created by the Blackheads’ House being set back from the neighbouring Schwab tenement house, and a lofty gable wall, which is the dominant feature of the complex.

The ground-floor section, embellished with arcaded panels, incorporates an entrance gate featuring depictions of the Virgin and Child and St Maurice. The building’s gable wall is stepped. The gaps between the steps are filled with spandrels featuring metalwork ornamentation. The vertical edges of the front façade are accentuated by rustication. The main surface of the gable wall is divided by ogival blind windows with moulded edges. In the four central, highest panels, statues stand on decorative corbels. Two of them, the outer ones, depict the Roman gods Neptune and Mercury; the inner statues are allegorical figures of Harmony and Peace. Above the statues are the coats of arms of the Hanseatic cities – Riga, Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. The top of the building is crowned with a bust of the legendary King Arthur, beneath which is a reconstruction of a 17th-century clock.

The rear, southern façade has a much more modest design, featuring irregularly spaced, elongated blind windows, without any additional details or ornamentation. A wooden crane has been recreated at the top of the gable, thus emphasising the building’s commercial and warehouse character.

Between 2012 and 2016, the monument was used by the Office of the President of Latvia whilst Riga Castle was undergoing renovation.

The House of the Blackheads is one of Riga’s most famous landmarks. Today it houses a museum where visitors can admire the original medieval cellars, as well as reconstructed state rooms, such as the ballroom with its wall and ceiling decorations, together with a recreated collection of portraits of Swedish kings and Russian tsars.

The House of the Blackheads – the Treaty of Riga

Few people are likely to know that this building also has a Polish connection. It is, in fact, linked to the signing, on 18 March 1921, of a treaty between Poland, Bolshevik Russia and Ukraine. Following the failure of the Polish–Bolshevik negotiations in Minsk, the Polish delegation proposed Riga – which was neutral at the time – as the venue for further talks.

During the peace talks, held at the House of the Blackheads, changes were made to the geopolitical order (border changes), arrangements were made regarding financial settlements, repatriation and restitution, including the return of cultural artefacts, archives and documents removed from Polish territory after 1772. Pursuant to the provisions of the treaty, many works of art were returned to Poland, including: the furnishings of the Royal Castle and the palace in Łazienki Królewskie in Warsaw, Jan Matejko’s painting *The Battle of Grunwald*, 24 carved heads from the Deputies’ Hall at Wawel, the monument to Prince Józef Poniatowski, 42 tapestries, 21 paintings by Bernardo Bellotto, banners, royal regalia, sculptures and paintings, as well as the contents of many Polish museums, archives and libraries, most notably the Crown Archives and a large portion of the manuscripts from the Załuski Library.

The House of the Blackheads – commemorative plaque

The treaty did not resolve all the problems, but it certainly stabilised the situation in this region of Europe as far as was possible at the time. Marshal Piłsudski received a telegram announcing the signing of the treaty on the evening of 18 March whilst attending a performance at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, during the celebrations marking the signing of the March Constitution on 17 March.

On 27 September 1994, a plaque commemorating the signing of the treaty ending the Polish–Bolshevik War was unveiled in the stairwell of the House of the Blackheads.