The Latvian National Museum of Natural History is one of the oldest multi-disciplinary museums of natural sciences in the Baltics, and it holds the largest collection of natural specimens available to the public in Latvia. The history of the museum dates back to 1845, when representatives of the Baltic German intelligentsia founded the Riga Naturalist Society (Der Naturforscherverein zu Riga) with a museum and library.
The museum collects, preserves and stores Latvian and world nature collections, studies the specimens therein, and popularises the museum's collections through exhibitions, and other activities. The museum’s values of discovering, interpreting, and disseminating are the basic tenets of environmental education.
The Latvian National Museum of Natural History operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.
The museum’s mission: to conserve and preserve the natural and material cultural values of Latvia that affirm the diversity, history and protection of nature. Through using the resources of the museum, to carry out environmental education by creating awareness in society about the processes that take place in nature, the place and role of humans therein, and to promote the formation of environmental awareness in society.