tArt Nouveau, the 'Young Style', or 'Jugendstil' blasted across the cities of Europe in the early years of the 20th Century. Taking its inspiration from diverse souces including Japanese print art, the 'Arts and Crafts' movement and using the new technologies of printing and publishing, this style celebrated the natural world over the straight lines of modernity. Launched to orbit by the Paris Exposition of 1900 it seemed an unstoppable juggernaut. And it certainly captured the imagination of architects and builders in Riga in those heady pre-war years. Whilst 'Ground Zero' for the Jugendstil movement are the works of Mikhail Eiesnstein on Alberta Iela, in the 'Quiet Centre', all the traveller must do is to look up to discover freeform and exuberent designs featuring mythical beasts, twisting and twining flora, peacocks and chevalier helmeted godesses gazing back at them with their mad gazes.