As in previous years – at the time when we celebrate Latvia’s birthday – “Staro Rīga” invites you to wander through the streets of Riga and together share in the positive emotions and moments of surprise these dark evenings can bring.

The festival will take place over four days, from November 15 to 18, every evening from 17:00 to 23:00. During this time, colourful light installations will illuminate the city’s streets and parks, and visitors will encounter surprising and original light objects throughout the urban environment.

This year’s theme is “Heralds of Dawn.” Dawn is the moment after the darkest night when its messengers – the first rays of sunlight – break through the darkness and illuminate the path to a new day. This year, “Staro Rīga” invites everyone to see light as a messenger of new beginnings – a hope born from darkness. A herald of dawn can be a premonition, a feeling that something is about to change or come into being because it can no longer remain as it was. Anyone can become a herald of dawn by improving and transforming themselves, inspiring others, and helping make our shared living space better.

The Staro Rīga 2025 route will consist of six “Circles of Light” across the city. It begins with installations near the National Library of Latvia, followed by the Old Town light circle, the Freedom Monument light circle, the Riga Central Parks light circle (Vērmanes Park and the Esplanade), the Brīvības Street light circle, and finally the Miera Street light circle. Visitors will encounter several dozen light objects, each telling stories of dawn, hope, and a new day. The route is suitable for both shorter and longer walks, roughly six kilometres in total, and can be enjoyed in a single evening or over several evenings by exploring each circle separately.

This year, the festival will delight visitors not only with works by local light artists but also with a diverse range of installations and light objects created by international authors. Artists from Portugal, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, France, Canada, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Italy will participate, together making up one third of this year’s selection of festival objects.