 | Daugavpils Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 17 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Miscellaneous Things To Do Tips | All Tips (17) The part of Daugavpils on the opposite bank of the river -- Grīva, which means the mouth of a river -- was a separate town before the Soviet occupation. In fact, the opposite bank is in the province of Semigallia (Zemgale), which was part of the Duchy of Courland.
It's a pleasant area to wander -- there's a nice little church there, and the riverbank is public grazing land. Leave a Comment Directions: Cross the bridge.
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 | |  |  | The Polish Cultural Center | Tip Rating:    |  |  | |  |
If you walk into Jaunbūve from the churches, along Varšavas iela (Warsaw Street), you will pass the Polish school (in full flower), Latvia's first Belarusian school (no longer functioning; there is a Belarusian school operating in Rīga) , and the Polish cultural center.
Latvia had a remarkably progressive system of multicultural education from its independence, which has been partly renewed today -- there are public schools offering instruction in Latvian, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Romany.
About 13% of the population of Daugavpils is Polish. If you continue along Varšavas, you can return to the center by crossing the footbridge (bear left before the street curves).
The crucifix you will see if you choose this route is a recent monument by Romualds Gibovskis. It marks the former graves of the Poles killed when liberating the city in 1920 -- the cemetery itself, and the adjacent Jewish graves, were turned into a quarry and then a garbage dump by the Soviets. Leave a Comment Address: Varšavas between 18. novembra and Smilšu ielas.Directions: If walking from the Center, turn left at the Cathedral of Boris and Glyeb.
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| | | | The Rothko Room | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Daugavpils recently celebrated the centenary of the American abstract expressionist Mark Rothko (1903-2003), and though the paintings you can see at the Daugavpils Museum of Regional Studies and Arts (an interesting place in of itself) are museum quality reproductions on canvas, they provide a concentrated, intense experience of the artist's work.
Born Marcus Rothkowicz in what was then Dvinsk, he committed suicide in his New York studio in 1970. The building where the Rothkowicz family lived (which isn't where Breslin's biography says it is but near Slavas Square), no longer exists -- it's a LUKoil gas station.
You'll find a new sculpture dedicated to Rothko where 18. novembra iela meets the river, by local sculptor Romualds Gibovskis.
Farida Zaletilo, the organizer of the Rothko events, is currently working to develop a major new arts center in the Fortress. Leave a Comment Address: Rīgas iela 8Phone: (+371) 5424155Directions: The museum, which is in the former mansion of the commandant of the Fortress, looks onto Dubrovin's Garden, near the large fountain and a hideous monument to the first Soviet soldiers to enter Daugavpils in 1944.Website: www.rothko100.org
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This district, stretching from the cluster of churches to "the Chemistry" (the so-called Chemists' Microregion, built to house workers for the synthetics plant in the 1960s and 1970s, used to be known as "the Daugavpils Desert," consisting of dunes), is an interesting neighborhood because you will still see many old wooden houses in the Russian style. Unfortunately, the same attention to the preservation of urban wooden architecture one can only praise in Rīga (spearheaded by the architect Zaiga Gaile) is not popular in Daugavpils... so hurry! Leave a Comment Address: Between the Chemistry and the Center.Directions: Cross Gaisa tilts along 18. novembra, passing the White Swan (a hypocorisma for the jail -- note the swans on the weathervanes -- and don't be surprised if someone shoots a message at you; you may also see stockings passing between the barred windows...).
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The center of the city was planned by some of the architects who designed parts of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Pilsudski held a conference in this lovely building, at the corner of Krišjāņa Valdemāra and Ģimnāzijas ielas. Leave a Comment
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on October 5, 2005
