I have been able to slow the pace down a little today and am camping only about 40km north of where I was last night.It wasn’t long this morning before I was in Latvia, and I headed for Rundale Palace which is not far over the border,and about 70km south of Riga.
This is a fantastic place.It was built around 1738 for the Duke of Courland ,as a summer residence,by the same architect who built the the Tsars' Winter Palace in St Petersburg,Bartololomeo Rastrelli.It has to be the Baltics’ premier country building.
Courland was a semi-independent Duchy,but it was finally absorbed into the Imperial Russian empire in 1795:The building of the palace had been interrupted in 1740 when the Duke was appointed regent of Russia,but his political opponents had him sacked and imprisoned in Siberia.However,Catherine the Great had him pardoned 22 years later,and he returned to complete the building around 1762,Rastrelli still being around to supervise this.In 1795,though,the Duchy was dissolved and the estates gifted to a Russian Prince.
This is a fantastic place.It was built around 1738 for the Duke of Courland ,as a summer residence,by the same architect who built the the Tsars' Winter Palace in St Petersburg,Bartololomeo Rastrelli.It has to be the Baltics’ premier country building.
Courland was a semi-independent Duchy,but it was finally absorbed into the Imperial Russian empire in 1795:The building of the palace had been interrupted in 1740 when the Duke was appointed regent of Russia,but his political opponents had him sacked and imprisoned in Siberia.However,Catherine the Great had him pardoned 22 years later,and he returned to complete the building around 1762,Rastrelli still being around to supervise this.In 1795,though,the Duchy was dissolved and the estates gifted to a Russian Prince.
Rundale palace
 One example of the restoration: the "white room", which was the ballroom. |  |
You may recognise some of these rooms as film locations in the BBC's adaptation of "War and Peace"
The building is a remarkable story of restoration:It started suffering not long after its completion, when Napoleon’s troops were quartered in the building in 1812,and they knocked it about a bit. It was returned to the Russian princes but neglected.In WWI,the Germans used it as a military hospital,and it became a school after that.It survived damage in WW2 but in the post war period was used as a grain store by the local communists.Some restoration began in the 1950’s but the work began seriously on the empty building in the 70’s using historically accurate methods and materials,aided by Rastrelli’s very detailed plans,and although some rooms were opened in 1981,it has taken till last year to completely restore it to its former glory,and it is now fully open.In this process it has been filled with appropriate 18th century furniture from all over Latvia, and elsewhere,often original furnishings reclaimed from museums,and many portraits of the Dukes’ families, and others, have been collected. Some have been donated by descendants of the family who have provided material from France and Germany.
The Baroque gardens, also designed by Rastrelli, were too far gone to restore and are being completely rebuilt from scratch to the original plans.The Lime walks,hornbeam hedges ,rose garden (using English roses supplied by David Austin)and parterres are all in place.
The Baroque gardens, also designed by Rastrelli, were too far gone to restore and are being completely rebuilt from scratch to the original plans.The Lime walks,hornbeam hedges ,rose garden (using English roses supplied by David Austin)and parterres are all in place.
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Incidentally, I had previously only seen the name Courland mentioned in connection with the German retreat from the Russian front in 1944/45.Army Group Courland held out in this peninsular ,the "Courland pocket", right up until the German surrender,having been bi-passed by the main Russian advance.I was pleased to be able to put this region into a different historical perspective.An interesting pub quiz fact is that the Duchy of Courland apparently actually briefly acquired some overseas territories in the 18th century,in Trinidad and Tobago,and Gambia.
I retraced my steps a few km back to the town of Bauksa where I planned to camp overnight on a rural camping field in the outskirts.I called in at Bauksa Palace which is an attractive sight as one crosses the bridge into town.I was expecting to be underwhelmed after Rundale, but it is a different prospect.It is another castle that has been rebuilt from an old ruin:It was the 16th century residence of the Dukes of Courland and in that period a palace was built inside the medieval castle. Only a few walls were left of the whole place: part of the ruin has been left, but the palace has been comprehensively rebuilt but does look pretty authentic and scenic ,although somewhat of a pastiche. It houses a history museum ,with exhibits from bronze age, through to the 16th century, which it dwells most on. Unfortunately most of the captions were in Latvian alone.There were a group of female guides in 16th century costume: I went round alone and was passed from one to the next.I asked one who spoke a little English if they had a lot of visitors, being rather embarrassed by my personal guided tour being conducted in sign language, and she said “many”.A party of 20 did actually arrive just as I was leaving.
I retraced my steps a few km back to the town of Bauksa where I planned to camp overnight on a rural camping field in the outskirts.I called in at Bauksa Palace which is an attractive sight as one crosses the bridge into town.I was expecting to be underwhelmed after Rundale, but it is a different prospect.It is another castle that has been rebuilt from an old ruin:It was the 16th century residence of the Dukes of Courland and in that period a palace was built inside the medieval castle. Only a few walls were left of the whole place: part of the ruin has been left, but the palace has been comprehensively rebuilt but does look pretty authentic and scenic ,although somewhat of a pastiche. It houses a history museum ,with exhibits from bronze age, through to the 16th century, which it dwells most on. Unfortunately most of the captions were in Latvian alone.There were a group of female guides in 16th century costume: I went round alone and was passed from one to the next.I asked one who spoke a little English if they had a lot of visitors, being rather embarrassed by my personal guided tour being conducted in sign language, and she said “many”.A party of 20 did actually arrive just as I was leaving.
Bauska Palace
 |  The wholly rebuilt 16th century Ducal palace |
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