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The guard passage
around the tower is 1.35 m wide
and was outside of the stone wall. This made it possible
to protect the castle effectively from above. The guard
passage was not accessible from the rooms of the tower
itself.
The
restored nest of console beams in the guard
passage
is 0.9 m deep with a cross-section of 0.21x0.35 m.
Before restoration, small fragments of oak were found in
the console beam nest in the southern wall – pieces of the
former beam, perhaps.
The clock and bell of the large
semi-circular tower
A clock and bell are at the fifth floor level of the large
semi-circular tower and toward the yard. The face of
the clock is on the eastern side of the tower.
A clock and bell that were listed in an audit of the
castle in 1590 have not survived. Descriptions of clocks
from that era made it possible to design a simple copy
in 1987. The location for the clock face was selected
on the basis of an image published in the early 19th
century. The location for the bell that is above the clock
was restored in 2011 on the basis of examples from the
16th century. A bell has been installed in the location.
The
weathervane on the roof
was designed by the
architect Gunārs Jansons. Its steel pole is 3.5 m long.
The flag is made of copper, tin and an iron framework
(0.47 x 0.47 m), with three tongues that are 0.28 m long.
The Latin text on the flag means “restored,” and the flag
is also engraved with the year when the rafters of the
roof were lifted. The weathervane is similar to the one
that is the gate tower of the Mazstraupe vassal castle
of the Rīga archbishop, as depicted in a drawing by
Johann Christoph Brotze.
The
cellar of the large semi-circular tower
has a
separate entrance from the yard. The cellar was first
used as a dungeon. There is a ventilation aperture
shaped like an “S” in the southern wall, and it opens up
in the exterior of the wall. This is the only link to the
outer world in the entire room. Fragments of iron were
found where chains were once linked to the wall. The
exhibition in the cellar features the old dungeon.
The trail around the Turaida Castle
THE STONE CASTLE OF TURAIDA
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