Riga’s four brightest nights of the year are locked in. Staro Rīga 2026 lights up the city from 15 to 18 November, with 52 light works strung along almost five kilometres of both Daugava banks.
The Staro Rīga light festival runs every evening from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM over Latvia’s independence holidays. Riga Council rolled out the full programme on Tuesday. The route runs from the National Library on the left bank to Spīķeri, Old Riga, Kronvalda park and Viesturdārzs on the right.
Key facts
- When: 15–18 November 2026, 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM each evening
- How many: 52 light works in the main programme
- Who: more than two thirds are new works by Latvian artists, plus guests from Hungary, Norway and France
- Theme: unum momentum, “that one moment”
Where is Staro Rīga 2026 and what can you see?
On the left bank, the walk starts at the National Library, the Castle of Light, and follows the Mūkusala promenade. Hungarian light artist László Zsolt Bordos made a new piece just for Riga: ASCEND, a large-scale installation across the library’s facade.
Across the river, the route runs through Spīķeri by the Central Market, into Old Riga, then from the Ave Sol concert hall up through Kronvalda park to Viesturdārzs. Highlights from the council’s announcement:
- An interactive installation by Norwegian artist Anastasia Isachen on Pils laukums (Castle Square), mixing art and science
- Hungarian group Lightspray Visual projecting onto the facade of the Riga Congress Hall with custom-built analogue projectors and kinetic gear
- Soleil Nuit (“The Sun at Night”), a kinetic sculpture by French artist Sebastien Lefevre in Viesturdārzs, built from more than 5,000 mirror elements
- Seven installations by Art Academy of Latvia students, and four by the Latvian Academy of Culture’s college, made with students from nine countries
For the first time, the festival also puts a work at the foot of the Freedom Monument. On 18 November, Voices of Grand Trees becomes the stage for the holiday concert Brīvības ainavas (Landscapes of Freedom) at 7:00 PM. After it, a light show plays at the monument every five minutes from 8:10 PM to 11:00 PM.
How do you get there?
Walk if you can. The 11. novembra krastmala is closed to traffic from the afternoon of 17 November to the evening of the 18th for the military parade and its rehearsal, and on 18 November public transport runs on a holiday timetable. Our guide to Riga’s November holiday road closures has the dates and times. The full object list and map are on staroriga.lv.
Planning the rest of the evening in Old Riga? Stop at Dome Square, where two Staro works sit right under the cathedral that is getting its chime of bells back.
Bring warm shoes. See you in the streets, Riga.
Photo: Staro Rīga 2012 (an earlier edition), Guillaume Speurt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
