Gift encyclopedia · Riga · 2026
100 Latvian geniuseswho changed the world
The three stars in Milda’s hands on the Freedom Monument: Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale.
A small country on the Baltic Sea gave the world jeans, the three-dimensional hologram, the Minox spy camera, sterile surgery and the first design of the Apollo lunar rover. Choose a section on the map.
Motifs from the rock carvings of the Gauja valley
Gift edition
A book to pass on to your children
A large format, like the encyclopedias of old. Leather binding with gold tooling, a woven Latvian ornament and a ribbon bookmark in the colours of the flag.
Let us begin with the soul
A country that sings and greets the sun
Latvia treasures traditions that are thousands of years old, rooted in the ancient pagan faith of its ancestors — reverence for the Sun, fire and nature. To understand where so much talent in a small country comes from, start with two celebrations.
Mežaparka Lielā estrāde
Open the book and the festival comes alive
At the heart of the gift edition is a pop-up model of the Mežaparks Great Bandstand. A choir of thousands, dancers, Līgo bonfires, oak-leaf wreaths and Latvian flags rise straight from the pages.
IllustrationLīgo · Jāņi · 23–24 June
Līgo and Jāņi. The shortest night
The most important celebration of the year for Latvians. Two days, 23 and 24 June, are public holidays, and for many Līgo means as much as New Year.
People weave wreaths of oak leaves and wildflowers, keep bonfires burning until dawn, leap over the flames and sing “līgo” songs. On the table: caraway cheese and home-brewed beer. This celebration unites the whole country.
Papardes zieds · Midsummer night
The search for the fern flower
The most mysterious Līgo tradition. On the short summer night, lovers head into the forest to look for the fern flower. Legend has it that it blooms for only a moment, and whoever finds it will be blessed with happiness and luck.
Botanists know that ferns do not flower. Yet in Latvia people search for the flower every year, and couples return from the forest only at dawn.
Dziesmu un deju svētki · since 1873
Song and Dance Festivala living wonder of the world
Once every five years Riga turns into one enormous choir. The first festival took place in 1873, and the tradition has continued unbroken ever since.
On the Mežaparks Great Bandstand thousands of voices sing as one, while in the stadium hundreds of dance groups form living patterns. In 2003 UNESCO proclaimed the Baltic Song and Dance Celebrations a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The land where geniuses grow
Few people, plenty of nature
The silence of the forest, clean rivers, an endless coastline. Here every inhabitant has more nature than almost anywhere else in Europe.
Forest
Pines, spruces and birches cover more than half the country. The forests are home to elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, wolves, lynx, foxes, hares, badgers, beavers, martens and squirrels, and now and then a brown bear wanders out of the thicket. Overhead fly the black stork, the capercaillie and the white-tailed eagle.
Water and fish
Thousands of rivers and lakes where people catch pike, zander, bream and eel. Smoked fish is part of Latvian cuisine.
Berries and mushrooms
Bilberries, lingonberries, cranberries, wild strawberries. Going to the forest to pick mushrooms is a national tradition here.
Flowers and herbs
Latvia’s national flower is the ox-eye daisy; its national trees are the oak and the linden. Summer meadows are bright with clover, bellflowers, cornflowers and wild orchids, and at Līgo dozens of herbs are gathered for wreaths.
Birds
The national bird is the white wagtail. White storks nest on farmsteads, cranes in the bogs, and the corncrake calls from the fields. Each spring and autumn vast flocks of migrating birds pass over the country.
Health resort
Jūrmala and Ķemeri have healed with mineral waters and mud since the 19th century. Pine-scented air, the sea and white sand.
Noble crayfish
The noble crayfish still lives in clean rivers and lakes. It survives only where the water is pure.
Breadbasket
Fertile Zemgale has fed the country with bread since time immemorial. Rye bread is the signature taste of Latvia.
Amber
For centuries the Baltic Sea has washed amber onto Latvia’s shores — resin from ancient conifer forests some 40 million years old. After autumn storms people hunt for it on the beaches of Kurzeme. Along the Amber Road this Baltic “sun gold” travelled all the way to Rome, and in Liepāja even the concert hall is called the Great Amber.
Honey
Latvia has more than 4,000 beekeepers. Linden, heather, buckwheat, dandelion and meadow honey. Researchers have found that Latvian monofloral honeys can rival the famous manuka in some antimicrobial tests.
Sources: Geography of Latvia (Wikipedia); Yale Environmental Performance Index 2012 (as reported by LSM); Official Statistics Portal of Latvia.
Perhaps that is why such a small country has raised so many people who changed the world.
Latvju zīmes
Ancient Latvian signs
They are often called Latvian runes. For centuries they were woven into belts and mittens, carved in wood and chased in silver. Every sign protects something. The meanings follow folk tradition.
Saule
Life, warmth and eternal motion. The brightest of signs, placed on everything meant to grow.
Auseklis
A guard against darkness and evil. An eight-pointed star on belts, mittens and above the door.
Jumis
Harvest, abundance and fertility. A double ear of grain left in the field after reaping.
Māra
Mother of earth and waters, protector of life, the household and all that is born.
Laima
Goddess of fate and fortune. The sign “Laima’s broom” asked her for a good lot in life.
Ūsiņš
Patron of horses and bees, herald of spring and light.
Mēness
Warrior and defender, keeper of night and time.
Zalktis
Wisdom and well-being of the home. The grass snake was seen as a friend of the family.
Dievs
The highest order, peace and harmony. The sign resembles the vault of heaven above the earth.
Austras koks
The tree of life joining earth and sky. A symbol of kinship and memory.
A hundred destinies
People who change the world
Latvians, Baltic Germans, Jews, Russians, Swedes, Italians. All of them were born in Latvia or did their life’s great work here. Soon each one will come to life in a video portrait created by artificial intelligence.
Volume II · coming soon
Who will make the next book?
Latvia has far more geniuses than one book can hold. These heroes did not make the first volume. Vote: the leaders will earn a place in the second edition.
Know a genius who is not in the book?
Perhaps the next one is you, or someone you know. Point your phone camera at the code or tap it and write to us on Telegram.
Suggest a heroFor partners
Your name beside a hundred geniuses
The edition’s partners will be featured in the book and on the website: on a dedicated page, at the opening of sections and in the heroes’ video portraits.