Hanzas Perons Starts Its First Season: the New Venue for Culture Events in Latvia

The new venue for culture events in Latvia – Hanzas Perons – is starting its first season. It is the first so big culture venue in Latvia that has been built with private funds since the restoration of independence of the country. Hanzas Perons is opening its doors for the audiences during the Riga City Festival on 17 and 18 August to introduce everyone with the new image of the building and welcome to an exhibition “Hanzas Perons. Rebirth”.

Exhibition containing large-scale photos telling the story of the place from its birth, through various stages of reconstruction was opened on 13 August. The opening was attended by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia Nauris Puntulis, Acting Chairman of Riga City Council Oļegs Burovs, Chairman of the Board of Pillar Development Ernests Bernis, leading architect of “Sudraba Arhitektūra” architecture firm Reinis Liepiņš and Head of Hanzas Perons Ieva Irbina.

“Hanzas Perons was meant to become a magnet for the entire New Hanza territory. The new building is thought out to the last detail to make it an example of high quality architecture and design – a venue for culture that can make Latvia proud on the international level. There were more than 60 partners – Latvian companies – involved in the design, construction, construction supervision and other works at the building, there were EUR 11 million invested in this building,” – said Ernests Bernis, the Chairman of the Board of Pillar Development, at the opening.

“Each new object made in high quality is a significant acquisition for the culture life of Latvia meaning expansion of possibilities and new ideas. Built with private financing, Hanzas Perons will become a landmark of Riga’s culture landscape and will definitely become a great platform for all kinds of culture events,” – said Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis.

Acting Chairman of Riga City Council Oļegs Burovs expressed satisfaction with that “Riga now has one more restored cultural and historical heritage building that is becoming a space for new events in the city. The events that will prompt residents and visitors of the capital to come together. And I think that the interaction is currently very important, since it will unite people to create modern culture happenings that will add more stories to the future history of Riga. It is great that we have a new high quality space for that.”

Architect Reinis Liepiņš from Sudraba Arhitektūra also pointed out that “rebirth of the former Riga Cargo Railway Station into a new culture venue is a major event in Latvia’s culture life. Hanzas Perons is an outcome of the client’s desire to enrich Riga with a new and modern quality culture venue in this part of the city, and the result of work of constructors and architects who fulfilled this idea on such a high level. I would like to welcome everyone to come and appreciate the interaction of old and new architecture at Hanzas Perons by visiting any of the magnificent culture events that are about to happen this autumn here. See you at Hanzas Perons!”

It is already announced that Hanzas Perons is going to host an international new theatre festival Homo Novus, the grand finale of the Taste Latvia project, performances and concerts of various artists, Digital Freedom Festival, BREL real estate forum and many more. This is an obvious proof of the possibilities of this multipurpose venue. Find out more about events at Hanzas Perons at www.hanzasperons.lv.

Hanzas Perons is a former Riga Cargo Railway Station warehouse at New Hanza territory that has been rebuilt into a new culture venue – a modern and functional place for concerts, stage art, conferences and much more. It is one of the buildings that has survived at New Hanza territory to become a living evidence of major development of trade and manufacturing in Riga in early 20th century.

Building reconstruction works were started in September 2017 and put in commission in July 2019. The author of the project is Reinis Liepiņš, the leading architect of Sudraba Arhitektūra, project was developed by Pillar Development company, the design supervision was carried out by Pillar Architekten, SIA, while the general contractor was Pillar Contractor, SIA.