Cat House, Riga

Riga's most charming legend in stone, the Cat House is an ochre-yellow Art Nouveau building in the old town famous for the two black cat sculptures perched on its turrets, tails arched and backs raised. Small and playful, it has become one of the most beloved and photographed sights in the Latvian capital.

The building dates to 1909 and is a fine example of the National Romantic and Art Nouveau styles for which Riga is celebrated, with decorative gables and a pair of pointed corner towers. Its fame, however, rests on a story: the wealthy merchant who commissioned it is said to have been refused entry to the neighbouring Great Guild, and in revenge placed the cats with their rears pointedly turned toward the guild house across the street. Only after a legal battle, the tale goes, were the cats turned to a more polite position.

Whether fact or embroidered folklore, the anecdote captures the mercantile rivalries of old Riga, and the cats have become an emblem of the city, reproduced on souvenirs across the old town. The building itself remains in commercial use, with offices and a restaurant, so it is admired chiefly from the street.

For visitors it is a quick, free and central stop, standing on Meistaru Street opposite the Great Guild and a short walk from the town hall square, St Peter's Church and the House of the Blackheads. There is nothing to enter, but spotting the cats and hearing the legend is a fixture of any old-town walk, and the surrounding lanes are among the prettiest in the city. It combines easily with the guild halls, the medieval churches and the Art Nouveau district a little to the north, where Riga's decorative architecture reaches its full flowering.