Art Nouveau is a style of art from the late 19th and early 20th century. It introduced a system of contemporary styles in architecture. Art Nouveau buildings stand out in the cityscape with their original, distinctively expressive and saturated façade finish. However, the essence of the style is not in ornamental décor. Ornamentation, peculiar only to Art Nouveau, usually blends with the architectural structure in a most harmonious manner. The creative principle of the style was an expressive interpretation of the utilitarian elements of the building, i.e. functional planning, structural elements, building materials etc. Inherent to Art Nouveau are several different formal artistic trends, such as Eclectically Decorative Art Nouveau, Rationalistic Art Nouveau and National Romanticism. The most characteristic variety of this style in the Art Nouveau architecture of Riga is the so-called Perpendicular Art.
The development of Art Nouveau in Riga coincided with an unprecedented boom of urban growth. The number of population rapidly increased. More than a hundred multi-storey masonry buildings were constructed in a few years. At the beginning of the 20th century, the centre of Riga acquired its present appearance. Art Nouveau buildings account for nearly 40% of the whole urban fabric of the city centre, which is much more than in any other city in the world.
Local architects were very prolific in Riga. Numerous impressive buildings in Riga carry the names of grand architects, such as Konstantis Pekšens, Janis Alksnis, Oskars Bars, Rudolf Dohnberg and many more. Almost all the architects were graduates of the Riga Polytechnic Institute.
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Art nouveau in Riga (exhibition)- opening of the Latvian cultural Embassy
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