Riga City Funeral Service
Information service 24/7
From 1 November Riga's cemeteries move to winter opening hours: for visitors they will be open from 8.00 to 18.00 rather than from 7.00 to 21.00 as in the summer season. The break stays the same in both periods — from 12.00 to 12.30.
The difference is three hours in the evening, and that is what catches people out: someone drives to the cemetery after work as they did in October and finds the gates shut. If you are planning a funeral or work at a plot, call and we will arrange the time: +371 2208 4540
| For whom | Opening hours in the winter season |
|---|---|
| Visitors, 1 November to 31 March | From 8.00 to 18.00, with a break from 12.00 to 12.30 |
| Visitors in summer, for comparison | From 1 April to 31 October from 7.00 to 21.00, the same break |
| Cemetery keepers' reception | Tuesday to Saturday from 8.30 to 16.00, closed on Mondays |
| Cemeteries Board administration | Monday 8.30–17.00, Tuesday to Thursday 8.00–17.00, Friday 8.00–15.00 |
| On days of remembrance | Hours are set by the Cemeteries Board and may differ from the usual |
For funerals. The ceremony now has to be timed within a shorter window, and the evening hour is gone. The cemetery keeper is informed of a burial no later than 48 hours in advance and of the placing of an urn 24 hours in advance; in winter keeping to these periods matters more, because there is no later hour to move a ceremony to.
For grave digging and other works. Professional work may be carried out only during the working hours of the cemetery administration, and vehicles may enter only during opening hours. In winter the digging itself takes longer — frozen ground is slower to work — so the work is planned earlier in the day and on a weekday.
For visits. In November it is dark by about five, so in practice a visit means daytime rather than evening. If you travel after work, remember the gates close at 18.00.
1 November is also the end of the annual plot inspection season, which runs from 1 April. If a warning marker was placed at your plot this year, or an act received, we wrote separately about what to do. The short answer: rights to a plot can be terminated only if it has not been put in order for three years, so one season takes nothing away — but it is better to tend the plot than to leave it until spring.
In winter this is even more common than in summer: a short day, poor weather, distance. Tending the plot, clearing snow from the slab and collecting wreaths after the days of remembrance can be ordered separately — we travel out and do it. It is enough to name the cemetery and roughly where the plot is, or the name of the person buried and the year of burial.
If the family faces a funeral arrangement, we take it on in full — the dealings with the keeper, the deadlines and the work at the plot.
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