Splendid Palace: The oldest cinema in Baltics

The luxurious building of the old cinema hides in depths of one of the central streets of Riga. This architectural monument is built in the neo-Roco style – refined, elaborate and sophisticated.

History: How it was

The design for Splendid Palace movie theater building was prepared by the Latvian architect Frīdrihs Skujiņš. His most famous works include Palace of Justice also known as Cabinet of Ministers in Riga, and Russian Embassy in Berlin in Unter den Linden.

Cinema construction works were sponsored by Vasiliy Emelyanov, a well-known St. Petersburg entrepreneur who was engaged in development of the film industry in Baltic countries. Although initially he was invited to help develop the film industry in Estonia, he saw more prospects in Riga. Here, at Elizabetes Street 61, he built an extravagant cinema, which would later be recognized as one of the best in the Soviet Union.

Cinema began its work in 1923. And already in 1929, the first sound film was shown here – musical drama “The Singing Fool” by Lloyd Bacon. Thus, making Splendid Palace the first cinema in Baltics to show movies with sound.

Splendid Palace was also the first movie theater in Riga designed exclusively for showing movies. The fact is that since the 1890s – when public film screenings began in Europe and North America – films were shown in store windows, personal residences, event halls, and temporary cinemas. In general, anywhere but in a designated venue. Splendid Palace broke that tradition.

In 1940, the Splendid Palace was nationalized and Vasily Yemelyanov, who had sponsored its construction, was sentenced to ten years in camps.

For a long time – from 1952 to 2011 – this cinema was called Kino Riga until getting its historical name back.

Inside the cinema: halls and galleries

Splendid Palace has two halls: large and small.

The ceremonial large hall with chandeliers, stucco and paintings by Hermanis Grīnbergs on the ceiling has a seating capacity for up to five hundred people. It is believed to be the largest cinema hall in all Northern Europe. It was here that sound films were first shown in the Baltics. A few years before that, films were shown here to the accompaniment of an orchestra conducted by Otto Karl.

The more modest small hall can host about two hundred spectators. Originally it existed as a separate cinema by the name of “Spartacus”. And only years later it was connected to Splendid Palace.

In addition to cinema, premises offer Versailles Hall and Green Hall, richly decorated with baroque patterns. And in the gallery, there is a permanent exhibition telling all about the history of cinema.

Repertoire: What to watch

Splendid Palace is known for its quality program.  

Both national and international films are shown here, with a preference to quality niche cinema. This theater hosts premieres of films by Latvian directors (Splendid Palace actively promotes national cinema), recordings of modern European opera productions and plays as well as retrospectives of classical movies. 

The cinema program is supplemented by films from international festivals, days of Italian, Scandinavian, Norwegian, Kazakh and Japanese cinema, special screenings with film directors, public talks with film critics and other figures of the film industry. 

Splendid Palace has also been the host of the International Riga Film Festival for many years.