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songs in terms of what has happened in the world.
An exhibition about the Liv people of the Gauja region is
the oldest one in terms of the tangible cultural heritage of
Turaida. It is found in the restored gardener’s house of the
old Turaida Estate. The Livs are the second indigenous
ethnos of Latvia, with an ancient and unique culture and
a wealth of history. The Liv language belongs to the Fin-
no-Ugric branch of languages. Latvia’s rich and unique
cultural heritage represents a merger of Finno-Ugric and
Indo-European culture. During the late 12th century Livs
populated a large area along the lower reaches of the Gauja
River. We are aware of 13 hill forts from that period. The
Turaida Museum Reserve is in the central part of the an-
cient castle district of the Livs of the Gauja. Evidence of
Liv culture can be found on the Turaida hill fort, where a
wooden Liv castle once stood, on Church hill, where the
first baptised Livs were buried, and Folk Song Hill or Jel-
gavkalns hill, where a Liv village was found long, long ago.
The stone castle at Turaida holds a particular spot in
the history of Latvia, and it is an important element in
the country’s cultural and historical heritage. No other
Medieval castle in the Baltic States has attracted more
archaeological attention. For more than 25 years, the
archaeologist Jānis Graudonis has led a team to examine
the castle from that perspective. Construction of the castle
began in 1214, and over the course of the subsequent
centuries, the structure has undergone many historical
changes. During various periods of its existence, not le-
ast today, its importance has changed for political, econo-
mic or other reasons. Sometimes the castle has testified
to the strength of foreign powers. At one time it was an
object of dispute during the feudal wars of the small coun-
tries of Livonia. It stood witness to major military con-
flicts such as the Livonian War, the Polish-Swedish War
and the Great Northern War. Later it became the most
visually impressive part of the estate that represented
feudal private property. Today, the Turaida castle is an out-
standing monument of archaeology, architecture and his-
tory, as well as a popular tourism destination at the Baltic
level. Exhibitions in the castle refer to the construction of
the stone structure, the history of the building’s use until
a fire in 1776, the arrival of Christianity in the region,
the history of the archbishopric of Rīga, the region in the
Middle Ages, and the region at the dawn of the new era.
The Turaida church, which was built in 1750, is one of the
oldest wooden churches in Latvia. It has survived to the
present day without many changes at all. From the 13th
to the 18th century, there was a cemetery surrounding the
area where the church is found. Amemorial to the Rose of
Turaida can be found here. She is a woman who testifies to
loyal love, honour and the strength of the individual.
The restored buildings in the centre of the former estate
tell a story about how the estate was governed and about
its economic life from the mid-18th century to the early
20th century. The Turaida Estate was first established in
the 16th century, and intensive expansions of the estate
occurred after a fire in the castle in 1776. Much research
and restoration work remains to be done at the centre of
the estate so as to preserve the beautifully landscaped cul-
tural environment and system of ponds which date back to
the 19th century.
There were several rounds of land reform in Latvia during
the 20th century. In the 1930s, the Turaida Estate was split
up into individual farms, and in 1947, Turaida became the
centre for an agricultural operation. The Sigulda Local
History Museum, which was originated in 1949 in Sigulda,
moved to Turaida in 1963.
The exhibitions at the museum reserve speak to the wealth
and dramatic nature of events which occurred in the spe-
cific territory that is known as the historical centre of Tu-
raida. The exhibitions which have been installed by staff
at the museum reserve show that life represents countless
changes and shifts over the course of the millennium that
began in the 11th century and has continued to this very
day. The historical centre of Turaida has been preserved
and maintained because of public interest in it. It is cha-
racterised by an environmental, cultural and historical
environment, monuments, as well as a tangible and intan-
gible heritage which confirms all that has occurred in the
past. The museum reserve understands that the environ-
mental and cultural heritage of the region is of global value
because of its great diversity, and so the museum reserve
preserves the interesting and diverse heritage, as well
as the collective experience of the Latvian people, thus
trying to enrich the world’s experience and knowledge.
Welcome to Turaida!
Anna Jurkāne
Museum director
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