About the Project
Time Travel
A non-profit cultural project — 400 years of Riga through the lens of its archives
Non-Profit Cultural Initiative
Time Travel is a non-profit cultural and educational project by Diatom Art (Riga, Latvia). All proceeds from book sales are reinvested into archival research, digitisation of historical documents, and making Riga’s heritage accessible to the public. This project receives no commercial sponsorship and operates solely for the preservation and dissemination of Baltic cultural history.
The Vision
Time Travel is a large-format hardcover book that traces Riga’s extraordinary journey from a medieval Hanseatic trading port to one of the great cities of the Russian Empire. Every page features an original archival document — handwritten manuscripts in Latin, printed decrees in German, royal privileges in Polish, administrative records in Russian — each one a direct physical connection to the past.
Trilingual Experience
Each document is accompanied by AI-assisted translations into three languages: Latvian, English, and Russian. Historical context, annotations, and commentary make even the most obscure 16th-century manuscript accessible to modern readers.
Layout Concept
LEFT PAGE
Original Document
Preserved typography, graphics, original language
RIGHT PAGE
Translation & Commentary
Latvian / English / Russian + historical context