Sights of Latvia

The Best Sights for Latvia travel

Aglona

Aglona (pop. 1000) is considered to be the holiest site of Latvia. At its center stands an imposing white Baroque church and monastery. They are surrounded by a large open grass field that fills with Catholic pilgrims every Virgin Mary Assumption day and Pentecost. The field has numerous religiously-themed sculptures.

Aglona Basilica
Aglona Basilica. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

This pilgrimage center was established in late 18th century by local counts when Latgale was still contested by Lutherans.

The expansion of Aglona’s religious edifices is still under way. A new Christ the King hill has been completed 3 km east of the church, merging the Christian theme with 21st century neo-folk and land art. It is a massive ensemble of totem-pole-like wooden sculptures, their sizes and positions telling many stories. Trees, flowers, ponds and a chapel also help to convey them.

Christ the King hill in Aglona
A fragment of Christ the King hill in Aglona. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Skrunda-2 Soviet ghost town

Skrunda-2 is an abandoned Soviet military town which hosted ~5000 inhabitants. It is one of the most easily accessible abandoned towns in the world.

Skrunda-2 main street
Overgrown main path of Skrunda-2, surrounded by Soviet apartment blocks of 1960s. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

During the Cold War Skrunda-2 it served a radar base to track Western space communication and possible nuclear missile launches.

While the radars themselves have been destroyed as Russian soldiers retreated in 1998, the former residential buildings, school, water tower, officer’s Club and other installations remain.

Skrunda-2 residential building interior
Ransacked interior of residential building with interiors of flats visible. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The ability to access Skrunda-2 tends to change almost every yeat. Initially after the closure, Skrunda-2 used to be guarded (although the rampant corruption and vast area meant there were increasing numbers of urban explorers who still managed to gain access). Later it became unguarded and, even though technically prohibited to enter, it attracted even more tourists, up to ~50-100 people at any given time every summer weekend. At 2016, it became officially legal to enter, but a fee had to be paid at the entrance. At ~2018 the entrance was formally banned once again and, according to the recent reports, Skrunda-2 is now inaccessible.

Unfortunately, vandals have came together with visitors, leaving no windows in Skrunda-2 intact
Unfortunately, vandals have came together with visitors, leaving no windows in Skrunda-2 intact. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

What makes Skrunda-2 especially appealing is the fact that all the doors are left open, allowing full exploration (including basements, roofs, etc.). While anything of value has been removed (e.g. metal radiators), many small mementos of the life that used to go on there remain (e.g. somebody’s collection of bubble gum stickers). While the town was within Latvia it was mainly Russian, as evidenced in Russian-only inscriptions and newspapers.

It is advisable to walk carefully as there may be some open shafts.

Skrunda officers club
Partly burned out Skrunda-2 officer’s Club with Soviet five-pointed star decor. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Kandava town

Kandava (pop. 4000) is a small town in Eastern Courland, famous for surviving the wars almost intact.

Market square of Kandava
Market square of Kandava. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

It offers a glimpse of how a pre-WW1 Latvian town looked like. The main market square is surrounded by old buildings: residential, commercial and an old fire fighter depot. A couple of nearby streets are equally old.

Firefighters depot in the Market square
Firefighters depot in the Market square. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Three religions have their houses of worship in Kandava: Lutheran hilltop church, Roman Catholic and Jewish (the Catholic church is however new while the synagogue is closed).

As it was common in the 19th century, the town has a ruined Livonian Order Castle on top of one of its hills. It has been neither completely dismantled for building material, nor rebuilt as happened elsewhere. A model located at the foothill helps re-imagining how the castle looked like when intact.

A model of Kandava Castle under the hill where the ruins of the original one remain
A model of Kandava Castle under the hill where the ruins of the original one remain. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Another draw to Kandava is its 1873 stone bridge, the oldest in Latvia.

Jēkabpils town

Jēkabpils (pop. 29 000) is a town in central Latvia that spans river Daugava.

Historically, it was actually two separate towns, with Jēkabpils standing on the left bank (Semigallia region) and Krustpils on the right bank (Latgale region). As both banks have been united by a bridge (1936) and the unification of Latvia (1918) abolished political differences on the two banks, the municipalities have also been combined into a single Jēkabpils town.

Originally established by Old Believer refugees who were then joined by Lithuanians and Poles, Jēkabpils was always a multiethnic and multireligious city. This is evident in the fact that houses of worship of 7 different faiths still stand, all of them at least 80 years old.

Among the religious buildings the Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Ghost that consists of multiple churches is the most impressive.

Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Downtown Jēkabpils
Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Downtown Jēkabpils. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Other old churches are Roman Catholic (19th century), Baptist (1930), Old Believer (1889), Uniate (1783), Krustpils Lutheran (17th century), Krustpils Orthodox (1910). Many are rather small as in such a multireligious place relatively few people would belong to each congregation. However, they represent the styles popular in respective religions, with domed Orthodox churches, wooden Old Believer church, simple Baptist and Lutheran churches and relatively posh-looking Uniate and Catholic ones.

Jēkabpils side of Daugava has a main square and a nice promenade on Daugava banks, as well as some old streets.

The main building in Krustpils side of Daugava is Krustpils castle, now serving as the local museum. It was originally built by Archbishop of Riga in Medieval times (when whole Latvia was scrambled by Christian theocracies), but renovated extensively afterwards as it remained in use up to 20th century when Soviet army was stationed there.

Krustpils Castle
Krustpils Castle. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Interestingly, Jēkabpils even has a UNESCO World Heritage site. However, it is so small that one would not notice it if not for massive advertisements. UNESCO-inscribed object in question is the 2820 km long Struve geodetic arc – a network of stations the Baltic German geographer built in 1816-1855 to calculate the lenght of Earth meridian. Jēkabpils has one such station, now surrounded by a Struve park. There are many stations like that in Eastern Europe, going from Norway to Ukraine.

Krustpils also serves as the railway hub, having a station with Riga-bound trains. Bus station is however in Jēkabpils-proper.

Gulbene-Alūksne area

Gulbene-Alūksne area is a large and rather pristine zone in northeastern Latvia, which is pretty far from much else (by Latvian standards) but nevertheless tends to attract visitors.

Among the main attractions of the area is its palaces, built by German elite of the 19th century Russian-ruled Latvia. One (partly ruined) stands in Gulbene itself.

Ruined Gulbene Palace
Ruined Gulbene Palace. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The area’s prettiest palace is located Stameriena village. Besides it, the village is also famous for its 1904 neo-classical Russian Orthodox church, picturesqually raising above the local lake.

Stameriena Palace
Stameriena Palace. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

In general, Lakes are another draw to the area in summer. Alūksne town north of Gulbene is located next to a large lake that has castle ruins in its island.

Stameriena Orthodox church near a lake
Stameriena Orthodox church near a lake. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The most atmospheric way to go to Alūksne from Gulbene is by the local narrow gauge railway (Bānītis). It is the last of many such local railways that once traversed the Latvian countryside. Its Cold War-era diesel locomotives became a such a symbol of Gulbene and Alūksne towns that official Latvia’s tourist guides call the entire region to be a “narrow-gauge railroad land”.

Narrow gauge train about to leave Gulbene
Narrow gauge train about to leave Gulbene. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Salaspils and Lower Daugava

Lower Daugava valley is effectively a long suburb of Riga. Unlike in the rest of Latvia, there are few undeveloped places here as the distances between towns are short and people commute to Riga daily. Even Daugava itself seems artificial, as it has been dammed to form two large reservoirs. It’s easy to forget that, but the place is very historic as Daugava was always an important corridor for both trade and warfare.

People on the shore of Riga HES reserovoir at Ikškile.
People on the shore of Riga HES reserovoir at Ikškile. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Salaspils

Closest to Riga Salaspils is mostly known for its military history. It was a location of a massive Salaspils (Kirholm) battle as Poland-Lithuania fought Sweden to determine who would control Riga and thus Latvia (1605).

Newer history is better visible, as a prison camp for Soviet soldiers was established in the local forest by Nazi Germany. After the end of World War 2, the by then destroyed camp became a major propaganda location. A massive monument was built over it, combining respect for those dead with the glorification of communism. After independence, the monument became neglected, while claims of tens of thousands dead in the camp turned out to be untrue. Nevertheless, up to several thousand really died, and the monument is the best surviving example of monumental Soviet propaganda in Latvia.

Part of Salaspils memorial.
Part of Salaspils memorial. One of the men has his arms in the ‘Rot Front’ sign, a interwar German communist analogue of ‘Sieg Heil’. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

In the Daugava island near Salaspils, a Daugava museum is open in Dole manor. However, it lacks non-Latvian explanations.

Dole Manor.
Dole Manor. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Beyond Salaspils

Most attractions beyond Salaspils are rather low-key. Salaspils and Ikškile upriver both have very old churches from the era when Latvia was undergoing Christianization. Ogre has some old buildings in the main street. Ķegums hosts a small hill full of crosses built after visions for a local woman (it is customary to leave own crosses there).

Lielvarde, a mythological home of Latvian hero Lāčplēsis, has a wooden Uldevens castle. No authentic wooden Latvian castles survived so Uldevens is a modern reconstruction done by enthusiasts. The location is fictional (true castles stood on hilltops) and internal buildings inspired by different regions of Latvia. Nevertheless, the pre-crusader lifestyle is somewhat presented and a rickety-looking castle is perhaps a more authentic presentation of Medieval era than romanticized reconstructions in images. However, nobody speaks English there and the inscriptions are Latvian-only.

Uldevens castle in Lielvarde.
Uldevens castle in Lielvarde. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

A road further on from Lielvarde continues to Koknese.

Northeastern shore of Latvia

Northeast of Riga lies the long-yet-less-popularized seashore of Latvia that seems miles away in popularity from Jūrmala. If you will drive from Riga to Tallinn or back, you will constantly follow this coast, sometimes able to see the sea from the road.

The towns en-route serve both as low-scale resorts and as motorist stops.

The most famous among them is Saulkrasti, which is popular because of its high sea shores offering pretty views into the sea and the river that enters it at the location. A pedestrian boardwalk is available. Saulkrasti is the last town reachable from Riga by train.

The sandy beach of Saulkrasti looking from a high dune
The sandy beach of Saulkrasti looking from a high dune. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Another possible stop is Salacgrīva close to the Estonian border. It has been made famous by a unique form of lamprey fishing, whereby local fishermen use purposefully-built rickety communal wooden bridges over the local river to take turns to lay down their nets.

En-route between Saulkrasti and Salacgrīva there is a nice sport where the road comes close to a beach and you could thus leave your car next to it. That beach is popular with kite-surfers.

The fishing bridge of Salacgrīva
The lamprey fishing bridge at Salacgrīva. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Palaces of Western Semigallia

Palaces of Western Semigallia are palaces of the 19th century mostly German nobility. A long time of peace allowed them to construct especially elaborate edifices.

Jaunpils Palace
Jaunpils Palace. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The most famous among these palaces are those of Jaunpils (Neuenburg, 1906), Mežotne (Mesothen, 1802) Jaunmokas (Neu-Mocken, 1901), Šlokenbeka (Medieval castle repurposed in late 18th century).

Jaunmokas Palace
Jaunmokas Palace. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Unfortunately, the palaces lost their interiors during the Soviet occupation (1940-1990). Pretty exteriors and courtyards are still nice to view however. Currently the castles are used for unrelated museums (that of roads in Šlokenbeka and that of forests in Jaunmokas) or as hotels (Jaunpils and Mežotne).

Šlokenbeka Palace near Tukums
Šlokenbeka Palace near Tukums. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Grobiņa

Grobiņa is a suburb of Liepāja, accessible by city bus.

It has the Liepāja’s agglomeration sole surviving Medieval castle, built in 1253 by the Order of Livonian Knights. It is relatively small and now ruined, but can be picturesque.

Grobiņa castle remains
Grobiņa castle remains. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

Grobiņa is also famous for its Viking-era graves of Scandinavians who disembarked on Baltic’s Eastern shore. One would have to be interested in prehistory and archaeology to be able to enjoy them however.

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