Riga is the capital of Latvia and is home to 632,614 inhabitants (2019), which is a third of Latvia's population. Being significantly larger than other cities of Latvia, Riga is the country's primate city. It is also the largest city in the three Baltic states and is home to one tenth of the three Baltic states' combined population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.
Jūrmala is a city in Latvia, about 25 kilometres west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching 32 km and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a 33 km stretch of white-sand beach, and a population of 49,325 in 2019, making it the fifth largest city in Latvia.
The Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, is a business school in Riga, Latvia.
The University of Latvia (LU) is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia. It was established in 1919.
Rainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns, a Latvian poet, playwright, translator, and politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays Uguns un nakts and Indulis un Ārija, and a highly regarded translation of Goethe's Faust. His works had a profound influence on the literary Latvian language, and the ethnic symbolism he employed in his major works has been central to Latvian nationalism.
ValeFest, previously known as The Vale Festival, is a charitable summer music and arts festival that takes place on the Vale, a park and student accommodation site at the University of Birmingham, in Birmingham, England now going into its 16th year. Unlike other music festivals, it is planned, organised and largely staffed by volunteer students - it is believed to be the largest solely student-organised event in the UK. Every year it is held the Saturday after summer examinations finish and all proceeds go towards charities selected earlier in the academic year. So far it has raised over £150,000.
Satellites LV, formerly known as The Satellites in their early rock period (1996–1999), is a Latvian musical group formed in 1996 in Riga, Latvia. The core members of The Satellites are brothers Janis and Edgars Zilde. Other projects and groups related to Satellites LV include Kuba, Mofo, Raadio, Autobuss Debesis, Stāvi, the experimental solo album of Janis Zilde and Augusts IV, the solo EP by Edgars Zilde.
The Latvian Song and Dance Festival is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world and an important event in Latvian culture and social life.
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires, often known simply as Legionnaire Day or March 16 in Latvia, is a day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen-SS, are commemorated. From 1998 until 2000, it was officially recognized as a "Remembrance Day for Latvian soldiers" by the Saeima.
VEF Rīga is a Latvian professional basketball team that is based in Riga, Latvia. VEF Rīga is a seven-time Latvian Basketball League champion.
Viktors Arājs was a Latvian/Baltic German collaborator and Nazi SS officer, who took part in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Latvia and Belarus as the leader of the Arajs Kommando. The Arajs Kommando murdered about half of Latvia's Jews.
Nils Ušakovs is a Latvian Russian politician, former mayor of Riga and former journalist. He has been the board chairman of the left-wing party alliance Harmony Centre (2005–2014) and afterwards board chairman of the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (2014–2019). In 2009 Ušakovs was elected the Mayor of Riga, becoming the first Riga Mayor of Russian descent since Latvia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991, a position he continuously held until his dismissal in 2019.
Fraternitas Vanenica is Latvian all-male student fraternity (corporation) which was founded in Munich, Germany on June 20, 1947. It is the youngest Latvian student fraternity.
Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) is a public university located in the city of Riga, Latvia. The Stradiņš name in the university’s title is owed to members of the Stradiņš family who have had a significant influence on the course of community and academic life in Latvia for over a century.
EuroFaculty was an educational institution in the Baltic states in reforming higher education in Economics, Law, Public Administration and Business Administration.
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Latvian entry was selected through Dziesma 2014, a national final format that consisted of two semi-finals and a final, organised by the Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV). Aarzemnieki represented Latvia with the song "Cake to Bake" written by Guntis Veilands, which failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 13th with 33 points. This is the sixth year in a row that the nation has failed to qualify for the final.
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Heartbeat" written by Aminata Savadogo. The song was performed by Justs. Songwriter Aminata Savadogo represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Love Injected" where she placed sixth in the grand final of the competition. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Supernova 2016 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Twenty songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four shows: two heats, one semi-final and a final. In the heats and the semi-final, four entries were selected to advance from each show: two entries selected based on a public televote and two entries selected by a four-member jury panel. Four songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 28 February 2016 where a public vote exclusively selected "Heartbeat" performed by Justs as the winner.
Marģers Vestermanis is a Latvian Holocaust survivor, historian, founder and former director of the museum "Jews in Latvia".
The First Latvian National Awakening or the First Awakening was a cultural and national revival movement between 1850 and 1880 among the Young Latvians, a group of well-educated Latvians, who, opposed to the Baltic German dominance in Livonia and Courland Governorates, created the basis for the modern Latvian nation state. It was influenced by the European romantic nationalism movements of Young Germans and Czech National Revival. Most of their efforts were spent on educating Latvians, criticizing Germans and removing the stigma from Latvian language, traditions and culture.
Ice hockey in Latvia is the most popular sport in the country. The first hockey match on Latvian soil took place on February 15, 1909, with two teams facing Union and Strēlnieka Dārzs. However, it took another 20 years to supplant the popular sport of Bandy.
