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The Sauna
This log building was erected in 1828, initially as a
residence but then as a sauna for the people of the
estate. During the Soviet occupation, local residents
kept their livestock there.
The building was reconstructed as a sauna in 1996. The
sauna has an exhibition featuring the many different
types of switches and herbal teas that were used in
saunas. Visitors can smell the products and see all of
the work which women did in and around the sauna –
doing the laundry, as well as dying yarn with plant-
based dyes.
The Exhibition
“Latvian Sauna Traditions”
This exhibition speaks to the special meaning of the
sauna in Latvia. An inviolable component of the
Latvian lifestyle was always to go to the sauna on
Saturday evenings, and that remains true today.
Sometimes people lived in saunas. In ancient times,
the sauna represented the beginning and end of human
life. Children were born in the sauna, and the dead
were prepared for burial there. The sauna was a
sacred location where people washed themselves and
underwent medicinal treatment.
The interior of the sauna
The sauna form the South-east
Sauna besoms and herbal teas
A look at the exhibition about how yarn was dyed
The sauna from the South-west
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TURAIDAS MUIŽA