Digital collections, exhibitions and other valuable resources by Latvian culture and memory institutions
Alūksne bird farm
Alūksnes bird farm is one of the largest and most important companies in the region. It can be proud of a rich history which was compiled by the Alūksne city library, the Alūksne museum and the Alūksne zonal archive.
A Latvian Suitcase
If you had to leave for an unknown country tomorrow – what would you put in your suitcase, and what would you leave behind? You might return after a few years, after decades, or maybe never. What is the most important thing that will help you in future, not just physically, but also in a spiritual, intellectual and emotional sense? Tens and hundreds of thousands of Latvians have had to answer this existential question over the last 200 years. This exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre reveals the stories of some of the objects that once left Latvia and have now returned home.
BE YOURSELF!
Virtual exhibition of the Melānija Vanaga museum „Esi pats!/Be Yourself!” – relates the experiences of five deported children
Brethren congregation manuscripts
Long after Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-15th century, literature continued to develop in manuscript form. One of the phenomena of manuscript literature is the manuscripts of the Brethren congregations in the 18th century. The exhibition traces the educational path of this community through manuscripts, images, and photographs.
Continuous Line. Frontiers of Latvia on map
The exhibition tells the story of the creation of Latvia's border lines and contours. Historical maps trace the gradual development of the map outline that reflects the modern state of Latvia, starting from the first geographical names attributed to the territory of Latvia.
Dzimtbūšanas atcelšana Kurzemē un Vidzemē
Izstāde piedāvā ielūkoties brīvlaišanas likumu izstrādes un to ieviešanas procesos, 19.gs tiesu sistēmā, kā arī pārmaiņās, ko ieviesa brīvlaišanas likumu pieņemšana.
God’s Little Birds
Thousands of Latvian refugees had landed in Germany in 1945, at the end of World War II. Refugees from many European nations arriving in the war-devastated Germany had lost their homes, possessions and in many cases also their family members. To coordinate the placement and care of the refugees, UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) created hundreds of Displaced Persons (DP) camps where refugees were mostly grouped by nationality. Approx. 100 000 Latvian refugees became "dīpīši" or "Dieva Putniņi" (God’s Little Birds - using acronym DP) as they often called themselves. They did not want to return to the Soviet-occupied Latvia, where they would be submitted to repressions by the Soviet regime, nor did they have a home elsewhere. This photo exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre explores the work, culture and social life of these Latvian refugees.
Heritage in Vadakste
Digital collection created by library in Vadakste parish, Saldus municipality. It shows a photography archive of local researcher Zanis Skudra (Žanis Skudra).
Isaiah Berlin And The Riga Of His Time
Virtual exhibition about the great British thinker Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) born in Riga. He is regarded as one of the leading representatives of liberal thinkers of the 20th century, who was also an excellent essayist and orator.
Knuts Skujenieks
The aim of the multimedia website “Knuts Skujenieks” is to preserve the poet's literary heritage and living space and to make it accessible to everyone in a virtual environment. It is designed as a guided tour in time and space where the poet himself reads poetry, talks about the creative process, gives his comments on things and objects.
Landscape treasures
Landscape treasures are places and territories in Latvian countryside, villages, and towns that are considered to be of special value to the country, regardless of their conservation status and grandeur. They are landscapes that make us pause in the rush of everyday life and that we want to experience again and again. They contain a special significance that we want to inscribe in Latvian history and pass on to our children and grandchildren.
Latvian footprints around the world
The exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre reveals the fascinating life stories of six Latvian families who either left their homeland to seek a better life or were forced to flee their ancestral land to save their lives.
Latvians in Great Britain
Before the Second World War, several hundred Latvians lived, studied, and worked in England, and at the end of 1941 they founded the Society of Latvians in Great Britain. After the end of the war, around 16,000 Latvian refugees arrived in England. The virtual exhibition “Latvians in Great Britain” is prepared for a wide range of visitors to give an insight into historical events, everyday life, political and social activities, culture, and literature of Latvians in Great Britain. Visitors can find documents, photographs, historical newsreels, and audio extracts that tell the story of Latvian life in Britain.
Luther. The turn
Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, published in Wittenberg in 1517, and the Reformation he initiated, transformed Europe, and these distant events have a direct impact on us in Latvia at the beginning of the 21st century. A digital version of the stories of late medieval piety and Luther's fight against indulgences.
Old Latvians of Wisconsin
At the end of the 19th century, one of the oldest and largest Latvian colonies in the United States was established in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. The exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre traces the varied paths of several Latvian emigrant families from their place of origin in Latvia to the faraway forests of Wisconsin.
Pēteris Upītis. Bookmarks
The work of Latvian graphic artist and collector Peteris Upitis (Pēteris Upītis), with special focus on the bookmarks or ex libris he made and collected. They form a large collection held by the National Archives of Latvia. It includes bookmarks made by Upitis himself and by many Latvian and foreign artists as well as extensive correspondence with artists and collectors from various countries. The exhibition includes Upitis' graphic works, fragments of correspondence, photographs, videos, memoirs, etc.
Riga City Archives
A virtual exhibition of the National Archives of Latvia presents the history of Riga City Archives and gives an insight into the diversity of documents it once held, including the collection of Riga City Council (Rīgas rāte) minutes from 1603 to 1890 included in the Latvian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. The exhibition provides a virtual tour of the historical, unique archive rooms of Riga City Council at the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation at Palasta iela 4.
Savējie!
The Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre’s exhibition about those Latvians who are living and working outside of Latvia, and bringing Latvia’s name to the world – about people who have achieved significant results in the most diverse fields and professions. 24 stories of professional Latvians in the 21st century.
Taken library, reconstructed library
The virtual exhibition is dedicated to the former library of the Jesuit College of Riga which was moved as spoils of war. The library was started by the Jesuits in 1583. During the Polish-Swedish War (1601-1629), Riga was occupied by Swedish troops and the library was taken to Sweden as spoils of war.
VEF 100 (1919-2019)
The aim of the virtual exhibition is to show the life of VEF from its foundation to its rebirth, to reveal the importance of the factory and its products in society. To highlight the human factor, the most important pillar of any company, by showing the daily life, work, leisure, everyday troubles, tragedies and great, perhaps previously hidden, heroism of the employees – the VEFers.
Wearing Latvia
The Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre’s exhibition “Wearing Latvia” features 40 Latvian national costumes from abroad and the stories of their wearers and makers from Europe, incl. Russia, Australia and the Americas. The exhibition reveals the symbolic significance of the folk costumes and the history of their wearing and making – life in refugee camps, later on in Latvian communities in exile, and in today’s emigrant centres. The history of folk costumes made by Latvians living abroad – the particularly unique methods and creative ingenuity employed – reveals the diversity of Latvian craftsmanship in the diaspora, where emotional and social aspects often prevailed over ethnographic precision.
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