The Republic of Latvia (Latvijas in Latvian) faces west on the Baltic Sea and north on the Gulf of Rīga, an elliptical basin connected to the Baltic by the Irbe Strait. The western part of the country occupies a broad peninsula between the Gulf and the Baltic, an area that was included in the independent Duchy of Courland (Kurzeme in Latvian) during the 17th and 18th centuries. Rīga and the east coast of the Gulf were part of Swedish Livonia (Vidzeme in Latvian) during the 17th century. The Russian Empire annexed Swedish Livonia in 1710 and Courland in 1795. Latvia remained part of the Russian Empire until the end of World War I in 1918. After two decades of independence it was incorporated into the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1990. The older Latvian lighthouses are from the Russian Imperial period and some of the newer ones are of Soviet construction. This page includes lighthouses of the Baltic coast and Irbe Strait; lighthouses of the Gulf of Rīga are described on the Eastern Latvia page. For local government Latvia is divided into 36 municipalities (novadi) and seven state cities (valstspilsētas). Internationally most locations on the coast of Latvia were known by their German names prior to World War I; these German names for the older lighthouses are shown in curly brackets {}. The Latvian word for a lighthouse is bāka ("beacon"); zemesrags or the suffix -rags denotes a cape or headland, sala is an island, sekls is a shoal, līcis is a bay, šaurums is a strait, upe is a river, and osta is a port or harbor. Lighthouses in Latvia are monitored and regulated by the Latvian Maritime Administration (Latvijas jūras administrācija) but are actually operated by the local port authorities in Liepāja, Ventspils and Rīga. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. UZ numbers are from the official Latvian light list, Ugunis un Zīmes. Light List numbers are from volume C of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 116.
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West Coast (Baltic Sea) Lighthouses
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Irbe Strait (Irbes Šaurums) Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southwestern Estonia | East: Eastern Latvia | South: Lithuania
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted April 25, 2005. Checked and revised June 12, 2023. Lighthouses: 31. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.