The traditions of history, culture and art of the city are longstanding, sometimes atypical and varied, keeping and revealing to a guest its special charm of seaside resort frome the days gone until today! Rich permanent expositions of museums are the only link between the immemorial and recent history of city; Memorial summer cottages – museums tell about lives and works of famous persons of Latvia, the exhibition halls and art galleries offer artworks made in different techniques. Visit city’s museums, memorial summer cottages and exhibition halls and learn the city!

One of the biggest treasures of the resort city is its unique wooden architecture. Being conscious of aesthetic attractiveness and material’s suitability for building houses of seasonal character, as well as assessing the positive qualities and impact on human health and environment, in the 19th century and in the first half of 20th century most of the houses in Jūrmala were built from wood, therefore wooden architecture prevails over other kinds of building in Jūrmala.

Only the rich citizens could afford hiring educated architects to design their houses. Mainly they were Baltic German and Latvian specialists, but there are also works of Russian, Finnish and other nationalities’ architects.

Since the first half of the 19th century, popularity of classic architecture remained steady. There are also buildings of historism, art nouveau, national romanticism, as well as functionalism in Jūrmala. Another characteristic feature of Jūrmala’s architecture is rich woodcarving decorations on the facades and roofs of the buildings. New accents obtained from the historical construction are used to develop a new and modern style of architecture.

408 buildings are included in the list of architectural monuments, 7 of which are sacral buildings: 3 Lutheran, 2 Catholic and 2 Orthodox churches. More than 4000 buildings correspond to historical building of city.

City’s architecture can be observed if you chose one of the eight pedestrian routes that include 14 culture historical centres of city from Priedaine to Ķemeri. Every single route reflects the most characteristic things in area, therefore allowing guests to feel the individuality and particular mood of the place. The informative brochure “Architecture of resort city Jūrmala” with all routes is available in Jūrmala Tourism infotmation centre or in chapter Brochures of Jurmala city