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Smiths and building ironwork at Turaida Castle
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with the second half of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th centuries. This is the oldest known
building ironwork at Turaida Castle that has been reconstructed judging from the wall anchors
as the hinge pivots have not survived as a complete detail.
The third option for ironwork dating is the comparative method, i.e. comparing the ar-
tefact from Turaida Castle with different similar objects with relatively precisely defined time
of their manufacturing or use from excavations in other places or exhibits in the museums of
Latvia or abroad. Anyway, mistakes are possible because similar objects might have been in
use in Western Europe prior to their appearance in the territory of Latvia. When compiling the
catalogue, the dating of similar objects in publications has been of help. When a similar coun-
terpart for the artefacts at Turaida Castle could not be traced, another approach was chosen for
their dating.
Associating the shapes of objects and their ornaments with definite art styles and time-
lines in the territory of Latvia opens another possibility for their dating. However, the building
ironwork excavated at Turaida Castle is mainly functional, scarcely with any ornaments. Only
some window fittings allowed referring them to the Baroque period.
Besides, up to now drawings, paintings and graphics of the contemporaries have been
little resorted to in research. Sometimes parts of the medieval and Early Modern Period build-
ings with windows, doors and gates and their fittings are seen in these works of arts. However,
they are not depicted in detail and rarely serve as a source for specifying the application of the
objects and their dating.
On the whole, it may be concluded that the finds did not provide conclusive evidence
about the use of building ironwork in the 12th century wooden castle of the Turaida Livs. The
lower horizons of the cultural layer of Turaida Stone Castle revealed few iron objects that might
be from the 13th–15th centuries. The building ironwork from the upper cultural layers was
mainly manufactured and used in the 16th–18th centuries, i.e. the last centuries of the Castle’s
existence. At the same time it is true that the functional objects without ornaments retained
their shape unchanged for long. It also challenges their dating. Consequently, the dating in the
catalogue indicates an approximate time of the manufacturing and use of building ironwork.
Further research might help in specifying at least some of the dating.