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therefore it is presumable that plates for floor covering carved from stone are meant. Still it cannot be
excluded that ceramic tiles were obtained. Ten “floor stones” made in the brick-kiln of Ungurmuiža
Estate in mid-17th century definitely were ceramic tiles (Dunsdorfs 1935, 381). The small number could
indicate that this was a special order to cover some limited area. Perhaps such fireproof flooring was
chosen for the place in front of the mouth of the stove, or a fireplace.
There are evidences of the use of dissimilarly-looking ceramic flooring articles in Dobele Castle in year
1691 and 1711 inventory materials, in which it is mentioned that in the anteroom of the large dwelling
block there were “Courland tiles”, the hallway was floored with “burnt tiles”, but in two living rooms the
floor was covered with “Dutch tiles” (Dobele 2005, 360, 362). Judging by diverse designations it can be
concluded that the flooring material applied in Dobele Castle had been both made in the locality, in
Courland, and imported from Holland. Unfortunately, more detailed information about the appearance
of these tiles is lacking. From the written sources one can also find out that ceramic tiles of various sizes
were made in the 18
th
century by a Jelgava brick-kiln, but their precise size is unknown (Zeida 1962, 144).
Ceramic floor tiles in the territory of Latvia were found in castles as well as in the excavations of
urban brick buildings. Mostly they have been obtained in small numbers and no summarising research
on tiles has been published in Latvian until now. Hence only a few finds mentioned in publications can
be listed here. In St. Peter’s Church in Riga, during the investigation, a fragment of 13
th
century flooring
was uncovered in a not large area, for which 22 × 22 cm large and 7 cm thick tiles had been applied. These
were covered with dark brown and black glaze. The tiles had been laid in diagonal rows placing them on
a 3–5 cm thick layer of yellow sand (Zirnis 1984, 18).
In the excavations of Cēsis Castle ruins floor tiles of three sizes were found. The largest ones
(27 × 28 × 4.5 cm) and medium-sized tiles (15.5 × 16 × 3.5 cm) were non-glazed, but the small tiles
(12 × 12 × 2.5–3 cm) were covered with green, dark blue and yellow glaze. Lime mortar had been applied
under floor covering in the excavated room in Cēsis (Apala 1976, 4). During the investigations of Kuldīga
Castle site, non-glazed square floor tiles were obtained, with 17.5–20 cm long edges and 5.5–6.5 cm thick,
which the excavation leader associates with the “floor of bad tiles” and “floor of burnt tiles” in the ground-
floor premises of the castle, mentioned in the year 1669 inventory report (Asaris, Lūsēns 2013, 168).
A floor laid in the 16
th
century, made of non-glazed square tiles, was uncovered in the guardroom of the
southern block of the newest section of Bauska Castle, in the middle of which a 20 × 20 cm large ceramic
tile has been laid, with shallowly impressed contours of a game board (Caune, Grūbe 1988, 62). Until now
it is the only piece of evidence about a ceramic tile with a relief decoration in Latvian medieval castles.
Currently the abovementioned scanty information about variously-sized tiles provides no substantial
references for their more precise dating. One can only conclude that tiles of smaller sizes were thinner,
but the larger ones were thicker. This is connected with the impact strength of ceramic articles – if the
sand layer under the floor sagged in some places, a thin and large tile could easily break in case it was
unevenly weighted by a foot of a man walking over it. If the floor was covered with smaller tiles, the
centre of gravity of the foot moved more evenly from one ceramic tile to another.
In the excavations of
Turaida
Castle square floor tiles of different sizes, made of burnt clay, have been
found (Fig. 29). The remains of lime mortar on their sides and the lower side is evidence of the fact that the
tiles had been tightly attached to the floor. The investigators of the castle have mentioned in publications