Riga’s architectural history spans centuries: many of its traditional Baltic wood buildings are battered but still standing, and its Art Nouveau structures are a standout, competing even with powerhouse cities like Paris in preservation and density. But it is Riga’s socialist modernist buildings that offer a unique lens into the city’s mid-to-late 20th century, with several major projects initiated before the fall of the Soviet Union but finished after, a physical record of Latvia’s postwar urban development under the shadow of occupation.