The Johann Gottfried Herder (25 August 1744 – 18 December 1803) monument is located Herdera laukums, Riga.
Herder was a teaching assistant in Riga at the Dome School (1764–1769), an assistant to the city librarian (1764–1769) and an assistant pastor in the churches of Gertrude and Jesus (1767–1769). Herder came to Riga at the invitation of Johann Gotthelf Lindner, the Rector of the Dome School, who moved to Königsberg. At the suggestion of his fellow student and friend Hamman, Herder met with patricians and merchants in Riga and became friends with the Berens family, and became part of the German intellectual circle of Riga. Herder formed a close friendship with the publisher Johann Friedrich Hartknoch and later his son. The Hartknochs published almost all of Herder's works from the Riga period and continued to publish Herder's manuscripts until the end of Herder's life in 1803. In 1766, in Riga, Herder was admitted to the Masonic Lodge Zum Schwert ("At the Sword"). With his works on German literature in Riga, Herder gained recognition in German–speaking Europe and began correspondence with the German poet Johann Ludwig Gleim (1719–1803) and the German writer, publisher and literary critic Friedrich Nicolai (1733–1811).
In 1769 Herder left Riga with Gustav Berens (aprx. 1725 – aprx 1780). On the way to Nantes, aboard a ship, Herder Journal meiner Reise im Jahr 1769 ("My Travel Journal", publ.1846) and never returned to Riga.
Herder has made a special contribution to folklore studies, incl. in the actualization of folk songs in Europe. Herder’s interest in Latvian folk seems to have been stirred by the tradition of celebrating Midsummer in the suburbs of Riga. Herder focused on collecting and systematizing folk songs since Riga period. He stimulated Baltic German interest in Latvian folklore. August Wilhelm Hupel, Herder’s associate and collaborator, sent him at least 78 lyrics of Latvian folk songs, with and without translations into German, and one musical notation for the tune. Hupel obtained them mainly from his German colleagues in Vidzeme – pastors in Latvian churches. Along with songs from other nations, Herder included eleven Latvian folk songs translated into German, along with commentaries, in Volkslieder (Folk Songs, 1778–79); a reprint of which was published under the title Stimmen der Völker in Liedern (The Voices of the People in Songs, 1807). This is the first work that introduces the European German–speaking reader to Latvian folk songs. Today, Latvian folk songs sent to Herder are stored in the Herder Archives in Berlin. It is an important testimony of the Latvian folk songs and their traditions in the 18th century.