Jomas Street – Familiar, Yet Still Full of Discoveries. A New Walking Route Opens a Window into Its History
It is hard to imagine that Jomas Street – today Jūrmala's lively resort promenade, the main artery of Majori and one of the city's most vibrant public spaces – was once a landscape of sandy hollows and dunes. Where café terraces, shops and a bustling pedestrian street now stretch along the promenade, there were, as recently as the mid-19th century, wind-shaped depressions between dunes, dense forest that became difficult to cross in wet weather, and a road running alongside the banks of the Lielupe River. It was these jomas – long hollows running parallel to the sea – that gave the street its name.
The new walking route, Majori. The Town's Promenade – Jomas Street, invites visitors to discover Jomas Street as a historic resort promenade where the story of Jūrmala's transformation can still be read in the urban landscape. As development gradually expanded, the sandy rises were levelled, and the street that once lay between two natural dune ridges, connecting Majori with Edinburgh – today's Dzintari – evolved into one of the resort's most important centres of social life.
Historical images from the Jūrmala Museum collection
The route follows the length of Jomas Street, revealing both surviving landmarks and places whose former significance now lives on through stories, historical photographs and the collective memory of the city. It offers a glimpse into the evolution of Jūrmala's most dynamic centre, shaped over time by changing architecture, businesses and traditions of resort life.
Among the highlights is the story of Majori Railway Station – from the elegant wooden station building that once served as one of Jūrmala's best-known landmarks to the present-day structure reflecting the architectural language of the 1990s. The route also draws attention to the former Hotel Jūrmala, later known as Hotel Majori, which once embodied the sophistication of resort culture, and to the legendary Korso café, formerly Mascotte, recalling an era of concerts, dancing and lively summer evenings.
A prominent place in the route is devoted to Horn's Garden, one of the earliest social and cultural centres of the resort. Alongside concerts and public gatherings, it hosted some of the area's first film screenings, while its electric illumination made it one of the most modern and atmospheric venues of its time.
Along the way, visitors can also discover historic commercial buildings, former boarding houses and striking examples of Jūrmala's distinctive wooden architecture.
The new walking route invites visitors to experience Jomas Street not simply as a destination, but as a living part of the city where history remains woven into everyday life – in its streets, architecture and the movement of people.
