History

Our museum started on a hot January night in 2002, when an intricate woman headdress was acquired at the Night market in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai. This woven hat, decorated by cowries, silver plates and Burmese coins, unexpectedly became the start of the huge collection of traditional headware which now encompasses over 400 items.

Since that day, and on to the year 2014, the collection continued to grow with new acquisitions from all over the world until the its physical size reached a critical level. At this very moment, an idea emerged to create the world's only museum of ethnic headware in Riga, on a quiet street of the art nouveau district. 

The museum was thought to represent a trip around the world in five halls, which can be made in just thirty minutes. However, in reality, to gather all the varieties of traditional headdresses in a Riga apartment, it took twelve years of traveling, not always quite safe. Most of the exhibits of the museum are made by hand, many are literally taken off the head of locals, some are valuable not only as ethnographic artefacts but as jewellery or antique art.

Every hat, every shawl, every bonnet or head band in the museum has got its story - bright, unique, detective at times. To get to know them - means to visit the world.

The World of Hat...