The House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is one of Riga's most striking buildings and easily the most photographed — an ornate 14th-century Gothic guild house on the main town hall square, with an elaborately decorated façade of stepped gables, stone tracery, and golden ornamentation.
The building was used by the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild of unmarried foreign merchants who traded through Riga. The original was destroyed in the Second World War and the current building is a meticulous reconstruction completed for Riga's 800th anniversary in 2001. Inside, the ground floor houses a museum with exhibits on the Brotherhood and the building's history; the grand hall upstairs is occasionally open for events.