 | Sigulda Things To Do | Tips 71 - 72 of 72 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (72) The most beautiful castle in this region is the red brick Turaida castle, dating back to the 13th century. Its construction began in 1214, making it as old as the old Sigulda castle. The name Turaida means garden of Tor (a god known to many tribes of northern and central Europe). During the cursades, Turaida castle served as a base of the crusaders, but the castle came to fame because of a beauty called Turaida Rose. In the 18th century, a lightning hit the gunpowder store and destroyed the castle. It wasn’t until 1947 that the castle became part of a new museum. Since then, a couple of buildings in the castle were rebuilt. For further details about that, please check out my tip “Turaida Museum Reserve”. Leave a Comment
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Turaida Castle is a recently reconstructed medieval castle in Turaida, in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the opposite bank of the Gauja River from Sigulda.
The castle was constructed in the Brick Gothic style in 1214 under Albert, archibishop of Riga, on the site of the destroyed wooden castle of the Livonian leader Kaupo. Construction and development of the fortifications continued to the 17th century, when the castle started to lose its strategic importance. It was badly damaged by fire in 1776 and not reconstructed, and in the course of time fell into ruin.
Restoration began in the 1970s and the castle is now the centrepiece of the Turaida Museum Reserve, which also includes the oldest wooden church in Vidzeme and its surrounding Livonian cemetery, containing the grave of Maija, the Rose of Turaida; Dainu Hill, now a sculpture park celebrating Latvian folksong; and the beautifully landscaped castle grounds.
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on September 23, 2007
on July 5, 2007
