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The Exhibition “Semi-Circular
Towers in Vidzeme Castles”
This exhibition focuses on the semi-circular towers of
castles at Turaida, Rauna, Koknese, Ērģeme, Trikāta,
Rūjiena, Alūksne, and other locations in Vidzeme.
Towers which were partly beyond the defensive walls were
first installed at Vidzeme castles during the 15th century,
when firearms were used more often than before. The towers
offered greater effectiveness for firearms and expanded the
range for aiming them. The rounded part of the structure
included apertures for flanking and extensive fan-shaped
firing of cannons, wall-guns and arquebuses.
The Exhibition “The Most Ancient
Images of the Turaida Castle”
The oldest known images of the Turaida Castle and its
surroundings date back to the late 18th and early 19th
century. The artists usually drew Gūtmanis Cave with the
castle ruins in the background, even though the castle
cannot be seen from the cave in real life. The drawings
imprecisely show the buildings of the Turaida Castle. From
the West, only the round part of the large semi-circular
tower can be seen, and the tower itself is shown as a square
building. It is possible that the artists did not actually visit
the site, instead utilising older drawings in which the
large semi-circular tower was seen from the eastern side.
Others might have tried to draw the tower from memory.
Drawings from the first half of the 19th century are more
precise. The large number of drawings and paintings indi-
cate that the Turaida Castle and its colourful surroundings
were a popular place for travellers as much as 200 years ago.
The Turaida Castle, drawing by Karl von Ungern-Schternberg, 1810
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