Riga und Umeå, Kulturhauptstädte Europas 2014
Saturday, 4 January 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische UnionCategory/Kategorie: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time: 6 minutes
© riga2014.org
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 700,000 inhabitants, Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states and home to more than one third of Latvia’s population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltic region. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Daugava. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga’s historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga is served by Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states.
Riga is one of the key economic and financial centres of the Baltic States. Roughly half of all the jobs in Latvia are in Riga and the city generates more than 50% of Latvia’s GDP as well as around half of Latvia’s exports. Biggest exporters are in wood products, IT, food and beverage manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transport and metallurgy. Riga Port is one of the largest in the Baltics. It handled a record 34 million tonns of cargo in 2011 and has potential for future growth with new port developments on Krievu Sala. Tourism is also a large industry in Riga and after a slowdown during the recent global economic recessions, grew 22% in 2011 alone.
It is generally recognized that Riga has the finest and the largest collection of art nouveau buildings in the world. This is due to the fact that at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when art nouveau was at the height of its popularity, Riga experienced an unprecedented financial and demographic boom. In the period from 1857 to 1914 its population grew from 282,000 to 558,000 making it the 4th largest city in the Russian Empire (after Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw) and its largest port. The bourgeoisie of Riga used their wealth to build imposing apartment blocks around the former city walls. Local architects, mostly graduates of Riga Technical University, adopted current European movements, and in particular art nouveau. However, the most notable architect of Riga, Mikhail Eisenstein was an alumnus of Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. In that period around 800 art nouveau buildings were erected. In that period around 800 art nouveau buildings were erected. The majority of them are concentrated in the central part of Riga and a few more in the Old Town.
Read more on City of Riga, Riga Tourism and Wikipedia Riga. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
© umea2014.se
Umeå is a university town in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. The city is located on the Ume River. Umeå is a centre of education, technical and medical research in Sweden, with two universities and over 39,000 students.
Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland and the twelfth biggest in Sweden, with 80,000 inhabitants in 2010. The municipality has 117,000 inhabitants as of 2013. When the university was established in 1965, growth sped up, and the number of housing has doubled in the last 30 years. As of 2011, 700 to 800 new apartments are constructed each year.
The Opera of northern Sweden, the Norrland Opera, is based in the city. The annual Umeå Jazz Festival is one of the larger Scandinavian festivals for modern jazz. The main museums in Umeå are: Bildmuseet – Museum of Contemporary Art and Visual Culture, Museum of the county of Västerbotten with Gammlia outdoor museum and the Swedish Ski Museum.
The road infrastructure in Umeå is well-developed, with two European highways (E4 and E12) passing by the city. About 4 kilometres (2 miles) from the city centre is the Umeå Airport. It is the 7th largest airport in Sweden by annual number of passengers.
Read more on City of Umeå, Umeå Tourism and Wikipedia Umeå. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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