This Sunday public transport passengers will be told about Riga architecture : Current information : Rīgas satiksme

Back to list Print 2. Oct. 2014

This Sunday public transport passengers will be told about Riga architecture

On Sunday, October 5, Riga will witness an unprecedented event – some public transport routes will be transformed into a kind of guided tours where passengers will be told about architecture and urban environment objects located along the public transport route as well as related events. The event will be organised by the Union of Latvian Architects in cooperation with "Rīgas satiksme" to welcome passengers on the International Architecture Day.

The public transport routes for these guided tours have been chosen so as to cover the most extensive and different areas of Riga: bus route No. 9 (Centre – Mežaparks), trolleybus route No. 24 (Centre – Ziepniekkalns) and tram route No. 5 (Iļģuciems – Mīlgrāvis). Guides will work on bus route No. 9 from 10.00 till 19.00, on trolleybus route No. 24 – from 10.00 till 15.00 and on tram route No. 5 – from 15.00 till 19.00, in all vehicles. The stories to be told by the guides are expected to be very interesting, the rather that they will be told by would-be actors – students of the Latvian Academy of Culture.

Passenger will enjoy this „added value“ free of charge, and it will not cause any changes in public transport routes, duration of trips or departure times. „Information about the event will be placed inside "Rīgas satiksme" public transport vehicles, yet we cannot rule out that for a part of passengers it will come as a surprise,“ says Viktors Zaķis, the press secretary of “Rīgas satiksme”. „It is for the first time that "Rīgas satiksme" is supporting such an event, yet, if passengers like it, it may become a nice annual tradition.“

The Union of Latvian Architects organises traditionally the International Architecture Day’s events in Latvia every year. Earlier there were also open door days in architect’s bureaus and free consultations of architects. Every year at this time (this year – on October 6) the annual awards of the Riga city architect’s office for achievements in Riga architecture are also presented.

„Architecture is the closest of arts for people, whether they want it or not, because it is everywhere around us,“ says Mārtiņš Ķibilds, the Chairman of the Board in the Union of Latvian Architects. „But as it often happens, those things under our nose are so usual that we pass them unnoticed. Such guided tours in public transport, at least once a year, are an opportunity for an informal, interesting talk with people, an incentive to raise your eyes and see more around you."

For more information about the services provided by "Rīgas satiksme", public transport routes and schedules, types of tickets and other news, please visit our webpage at www.rigassatiksme.lv or social networks "twitter", "facebook", "draugiem.lv".