Basic HTML Version
THE EXHIBITION “THE GAUJA LIVS
IN LATVIA’S CULTURAL HISTORY”
The Turaida Museum Reserve is in the central part of the territory that was governed by the Livs of Turaida in ancient times.
The exhibition “The Gauja Livs in Latvia’s Cultural History” speaks to the culture of the Liv people who populated the area
around the Gauja between the 11th and 13th century in the area of Turaida. Visitors will learn about the everyday lives of
the Livs, as well as about their mythical ideas which were closely linked to their surrounding world of nature.
Finno-Ugric and other nations have shaped and enriched the global cultural heritage. The Livs are a branch of the Finno-
Ugric people, and they are indigenous residents of Latvia, just as Latvians are.
Finno-Ugric tribes arrived in the territory of Latvia approximately 5,000 years ago. Beginning in the 11th century, the Livs
settled around the largest river in Vidzeme – the Gauja River. They became known as the Gauja Livs, because their main
settlements were in the area where we find Turaida, Sigulda and Krimulda today.
The exhibition has information about the destiny of the Gauja Livs – who are the Livs, from where did they come, and what
did they contribute to our culture?
From a Finno-Ugric ethnos
to the Liv people
The ethnic history of the Livs (4th millennium
BC to the 10th century AD)
The territory of Latvia is a place where Finno-Ugric and
Indo-European cultures first encountered one another.
Finno-Ugric tribes settled in this area around 3400-3300
BC. People collected plants and went fishing and hunting.
They produced ceramics in the pit-comb style of pottery.
Around 2300 BC, the first Indo-Europeans arrived in the
region – pre-Baltic tribes which were the first to engage in
farming and livestock breeding in the area. Theirs was the
culture of corded pottery.
The first residents in the area of Turaida settled there
around 1500 BC. These were both Finno-Ugric and Baltic
ethnic tribes. They lived alongside one another for several
millennia, enriching each other’s culture. The culture of the
Finno-Ugric Liv people began to flourish around Turaida in
the 11th century AD.
Stone Age objects
Bronze decorations from a Liv boy’s apparel,
reconstruction
46