Riga Castle exists because the people of Riga rebelled. In the 13th century, the citizens rose against the Livonian Order — the German military-religious organization that ruled the region — and demolished the Order's original castle in the center of town. The Order needed a new headquarters, but constant friction with the Rigans made building inside the walls impractical. So in 1330, the Order chose a site on the banks of the Daugava River just outside the city walls. The Convent of the Saint Spirit, a hospital and shelter for the poor, was relocated to the site of the demolished old castle, and the Order took over the convent's land for its new fortress. The castle served as the residence of the Master of the Livonian Order — at least until friction with the Rigans grew so persistent that the residence was moved to the Castle of Cēsis. Then in 1484 the Rigans destroyed it again. They lost the resulting fight, were forced to rebuild it themselves, and finished the work in 1515.

After 1561 the castle changed hands five times in three centuries. The Treaty of Vilnius dissolved the Livonian Order in that year, and the castle became Lithuanian property. By 1569 it was Polish-Lithuanian, with the formation of the Commonwealth. In 1621 the Swedes took Riga, and the castle housed the Swedish administration through the 17th century — when it was almost continually under construction, with new wings, new towers, and an Arsenal added in 1682. Russia took the city in the early 18th century during the Great Northern War, and the castle housed the administration of the Riga Governorate, which covered most of present Latvia and Estonia, and served as the residence of the Russian governors-general. Then independent Latvia emerged from the wreckage of the Russian Empire in 1918, and in 1922 the castle became the official residence of the President of Latvia. Each occupier left their mark in stone.

Latvian independence ended in 1940 with Soviet occupation. The castle housed the Council of People's Commissars of the Latvian SSR for a single year before German forces took the city in 1941. The Young Pioneer organization established a Pioneers Palace in the northern wing during the Nazi occupation — the irony of children's communist youth activities operating in the castle of the former Latvian president was apparently not noted at the time. After 1945 the castle returned to Soviet use and became a museum complex through the long Soviet period. Then in 1991, when Latvian independence was restored, the northern wing once again became the President of Latvia's residence. The southern wing continued to house the National History Museum, the Foreign Art Museum, and other state collections. The arrangement worked. The castle was both a working presidential residence and a major museum, with the president sometimes walking through the museum spaces on official business.

Restoration work was already underway in 2012 when fire broke out in the early hours of 21 June 2013. Workers had left at 18:45 the previous evening. By 22:21 the flames were visible. The State Fire and Rescue Service mobilized 79 rescuers, 11 tanks, three ladders, a platform, and three specialized vehicles. The fire was concentrated in the palace roof and the attic. Around 3,200 square meters of the structure were destroyed, with 2,400 of those being roof and attic above the historic halls. The National History Museum collections, which spread across most of the building, were not destroyed by the fire — but parts of them were damaged by the water used to fight it. The Telegraph called it Latvia's worst cultural disaster in decades. Rebuilding took years. Today the castle is restored and once again serves as the official residence of the President of Latvia, alongside the museums in its southern wings. From the river it presents the same silhouette it has shown for nearly seven centuries: pale walls, square and round towers, the Daugava flowing past below.