1 Lats 800 Year of Coinage Right of Riga

Riga's 800th anniversary fell in 2001, but Latvia used the decade that followed to issue a series of commemorative lats tied to the city's medieval founding. This piece marks the grant of city rights to Riga, traditionally dated to 1211 when Bishop Albert secured formal recognition from Philip of Swabia — a political maneuver designed as much to consolidate the Livonian church's territorial claims as to legitimize the settlement itself.

The .925 silver collector lats were a consistent vehicle for Latvian national memory during the pre-euro period, before the lats was retired in January 2014.