Latvian National Museum of Art

The Latvian National Museum of Art (Latvian: Latvijas Nacionālais mākslas muzejs; LNMA) is an art museum in Riga, Latvia. The museum comprises six sites and holds more than 100,000 works of art and objects of cultural significance. The museum traces its origins to the Riga City Art Gallery, which opened to the public in 1869. Its main building at 1 Jaņa Rozentāla laukums holds Latvian painting, graphic art and sculpture from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century. The museum's collection history reaches back to the Himsel Museum, founded in 1773, where an art collection was separated into its own cabinet in 1816. In 1866 the Riga City Council acquired the paintings of collector Domenico de Robiani. They formed the basis of the Riga City Art Gallery, which opened to the public in 1869. The Riga Society for the Promotion of Art was founded in 1870. After Latvia became independent in 1918, the museum turned its attention to national art. Under Vilhelms Purvītis in the 1920s and 1930s, it systematically developed its collection of Latvian visual art.