Latvia lies on the eastern shore of Baltic Sea, which is bounded by Estonia to the North, Russia to the East, Belarus to the south east and Lithuania to the South. Capital city is Riga, the biggest city in the Baltic States. 

FUN FACTS

• Over half of Latvia’s territory is covered with forests and one fifth of the country comprises protected nature areas. Among others, there are four national parks, 42 nature parks, and 260 nature reserves. Add to that 500 km of white sand beaches, 12,000 rivers and over 2,000 lakes, as well as unique wildlife and you’ll probably understand why this small country is a popular destination for nature lovers.
• The capital of Latvia is the beautiful Riga, founded in 1201. Churches in Riga’s historic Old Town are unlike any other for a curious reason: instead of crosses, golden roosters adorn the church towers. Why, you may ask? In truth, nobody knows exactly. Practically, the roosters double as weather vanes showing the direction of the wind – quite important for a bustling harbor city!
• A recent study comparing the height of people in over 200 countries found that, with their average height of 170 cm (5ft 7in), Latvian women are taller than ladies of any other nation. While Dutch men were the tallest, Latvian gentlemen were not far behind and took the 4th place worldwide.
• Its home of the first Christmas tree - Decorating a fir tree is an old winter solstice tradition, observed by most northern Europeans. However, the first decorated Christmas tree on record was one in Riga back in 1510. People adorned it with straw ornaments, ribbons, dried flowers and weave, sang and danced, and burned the tree afterwards for good luck. Later this tradition spread to Germany from where it conquered the rest of the world.
• There are two Unesco World Heritage sites – the historic centre of Riga, known for its Art Nouveau architecture, and the lesser-known Struve Geodetic Arc, which Estonia shares with Belarus, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. It is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, which yielded the first accurate measurement of a meridian (now you know).
• It’s biggest airline is an innovator - airBaltic, founded in 1995, has its headquarters in Riga and flies to 68 destinations. In 2013 it came up with a novel concept – letting passengers create their own in-flight meal when they book their ticket.
• The tailor Jacob W. Davis was born Jākobs Jufess in Riga and emigrated to the US as a young man in 1854. In 1870, he was asked by a customer to make a strong pair of trousers for her woodcutter husband – his creation would become the template for modern denim jeans, and two years later, with help from Levi Strauss, he patented the product.
• Around 20 per cent of Latvia is protected. There are four national parks, 42 nature parks, 260 nature reserves, 355 nature monuments, seven protected marine areas, 24 micro reserves and a biosphere reserve. It topped the Environmental Performance Index in 2012.
• Latvians are a nation of singers and dancers with hundreds of thousands of people participating  in choirs, folk dance groups, folklore collectives, orchestras and amateur theatres across the small country. Every five years the best 40,000 amateur song and dance collectives come together for the Nationwide Song and Dance Festival. This impressive event has taken place since 1873 and is part of the UNESCO Oral History and Non-material Cultural Heritage.
• While some nations are passionate about football / soccer, basketball or cricket, the holy sport in Latvia is ice hockey. Latvian hockey fans pride themselves as the best ice hockey fans in the world and call it simply ‘hockey’ because the other types simply don’t matter here. In addition to the national team and a lively local league, there is an ice rink in every small town, allowing everyone to try their hand at the country’s most popular sport.

CHOICE AS A STUDY DESTINATION

Top 03 reasons for international students to choose Latvia as their study destinations is
- Affordable tuition fees
- Most popular courses
- Money saver

USEFUL LINKS

Click on the below link to know more about your study destination, and what the Latvian government has to say….

https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/newdelhi/study-in-latvia

NEWS & UPDATES

https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/newdelhi/consular-section/applying-for-a-long-stay-visa/students/sri-lankan-nationals

https://covid19.gov.lv/index.php/en

https://covid19.gov.lv/en/covid-19/safety-measures/self-isolation