Kronvalda Park occupies both banks of the City Canal, between Elisabetes Street and Krisjan Valdemar Street. Mention of the park Kronvalda Park can be found as early as the 15th century. For most of its history, the park was a closed area. It was owned by the Society of Riflemen. The development of the park began in 1863 by the German Rifle Society, then called the Rifle Garden.
In 1931, the city authorities bought the Rifle Garden and expanded it, by adding the left bank of the canal to Kronwald Boulevard. At the same time, the garden was renamed Kronvalds Park, in honour of the publicist, linguist and Latvian educator Atis Kronvalds (1837-1875). Kronvalds was a patriot of his country. He fought for the right to educate children in Latvian rather than German in school. Although he was a simple rural scholar, Kronvalds was able to do much for the development of rural schools. Because Atis was poor, he was able to graduate from the the pedagogical courses at the University of Tartu after 30 years. Kronvald's most famous book is National Aspirations.
The park was opened to the public in the 1920s. At the same time the park was undergoing a significant remodelling of the park. According to the design of Andrei Zeidak much attention was paid to the flower beds and rose garden, in which 20,000 bushes were blooming at that time. Zeydak wanted to create a botanical garden on the territory of the park, for this purpose various species of shrubs were brought from Germany, various species of shrubs and trees were brought from Germany for this purpose. But unfortunately, about half of the plantings froze during the cold winter of 1939.
In 1982, the House of Political Education was built here, near which a monument to a famous Soviet writer was erected. A monument to the famous Soviet writer and social activist Andrei Upit. Today Kronvalda Park is the second largest park in Riga in terms of its dendrology. Kronvalda Park is the second among Riga's parks in terms of its dendrological composition. There are 2 bridges in the park connecting the banks of the canal. The railings of the bridges are covered with locks. According to a new tradition, newlyweds lock the locks on the bridge railings and throw the keys into the water.
Also on the territory of Kronvald Park there is the Faculty of Biology of the University of Latvia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a second secondary school, and a sports club. In the northern part of the park stands the Shopping Centre, which in plan looks like a butterfly, and next to it is the Maritime Academy.
