Location: Vidzeme region Map
Constructed: 1214
Tel. +371 67972376
Entrance Fee: Ls 3.5; students Ls 2
Open: 10am- 6pm May- Oct
10am- 5pm Nov- Apr
Turaida Castle is a medieval citadel located on the banks of Gauja River in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It was constructed in 1214 by Albert of Riga the third Bishop of Riga. He called it "Turaida" or "God's garden". This strategic was previously occupied by a wooden fortress of Livonian leader Caupo of Turaida. The castle was badly damaged in 1776 and left in ruins. The reconstruction began only in 1970's. Government reserved 42 hectares around the medieval citadel to preserve the castle as well as surrounding complex of historic, archaeological and art importance. There are several trails that range from 200 m to 1km in length around park's grounds.
History
After the Livonian partition treaty of 1207, the Liv
settlement of Mr. Livo on the right bank of the Gauja was granted to
Bishop Albert. In 1214, the Bishop of Raceburg, Philip, ordered the
construction of a new stone castle, named Fredeland (German "Land of
Peace"), on the site of the burnt-down Kaupo wooden castle. Shortly
afterwards, however, the German name was replaced by the Liv Turaida
("God's Torah Garden").
In 1272, Archbishop Albert II of Riga
stayed in his castle in the land of Turaida (Latin: Thoreydia).
Until the 16th century, Turaida was the center of the Turaida parish
of the diocese (later the archdiocese). Sometimes the archbishop of
Riga stayed in the castle, who published various documents here.
Turaida Castle had been occupied several times by the Order. After
1298, the Turaida Battle Order controlled the castle for 68 years.
Also from 1405 to 1417, Turaida was ruled by Turaida bailiffs
appointed by the Order. Also in later times from 1479 to 1485 and in
1556 the castle was occupied by the Order. The maximum growth of the
castle was at the beginning of the 16th century, when the three
interconnected parts (courtyard, northern and southern forecourts)
were integrated into a single system of buildings for protection, as
well as farm and residential buildings.
After the
secularisation of the archdiocese in 1566, Sigismund August Turaida,
the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, first gave it back
to the Livonian Knights, but soon after to the former bishop of the
Tartu diocese, Elert Kruz, who owned it until 1585. The Turaida
Starastia was established during the Duchy of Livonia. In 1582 and
1590, inventories were made in the castle. At the beginning of the
17th century, the castle was changed to both Swedes and Poles. In
1624, the audit of Turaida Castle was already performed by the
Swedes. In 1625, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden gave Turaida to Nils
Stjernscheld, but already in 1652 it was sold to G. V. von Budberg.
In 1553, the oldest plan of Turaida Castle (now stored in the
Stockholm War Archives) will be made. During the Second Northern War
in 1658, the castle was briefly occupied by Polish-Lithuanian
troops. After that, Turaida Castle lost its fortification
significance, becoming the center of Turaida Manor. The castle was
inhabited until 1776, when a wooden building burned down in a fire.
In 1818, Turaida was acquired by the free lord Kampenhausen. In the
19th century, a manor house (made of wood) was built in the
territory of the castle next to the main tower (bergfried), as well
as a barn was built in the western building. The remaining walls
were used for building materials.
After the formation of the
Latvian state in 1924, a decision was made to include the ruins of
Turaida castle in the list of state protected monuments, but the
actual restoration works gradually began only in the 1950s. Since
1976, under the guidance of archaeologist Jānis Graudonis, regular
and comprehensive archaeological research of the castle has been
carried out for 25 years, during which the information obtained was
used to strengthen and restore fortification structures and
buildings. Also, the drawings of Turaida Castle from 1793 and 1810
found in the Estonian archives, which allowed to develop projects
for the restoration of lost parts of buildings, also played an
important role in the restoration work. Currently, Turaida Castle is
an important Latvian and Baltic tourism object.
Known Turaida
fogti
The captors of Turaida were the "Liv gala" judges (advocati
ecclesiae, Stiftsvögte) of the lands belonging to the archbishops of
Riga, who ruled the castle of Turaida (Fredeland).
1207
Gottfried
1210. 1211. Engelbertus de Tisenhusen
1212.-1219.
Gerhards
1231 and 1253. Heydenricus
1257. Ludolfus
1272.
Albero (Albero)
1298.-1322. Johannes de Palo
1298. Otto de
Rosen, then the Order subjugated Turaida for 68 years
around
1330. Meinards
1360-1361. Bartholomäus von Tisenhusen
1371-1372. Hinrich Orges
before 1380. Heinrich Salcze
1382-1385. Bernards Goes
1392. Woldemarus de Rosen
1403-1405
(?) Heinrich Aderkas, then the Order subjugated Turaida until 1417
1417-1420. Brands Koskul (Brand Koskul)
1422-1424. Johann
Wildenberg
1427. Otto von Rosen
1428-1431. Georg Gudesleff
1444-1455 (?) Rotger van Backem - captive of the earth
1457-1461.
Peter von der Borch
1466-1468. Wolmar Üxkül
1496-1514. Kersten
von Rosen
1514-1534 Georg Krüdener
1537-1547. Georg von Rosen
1548.-1552. Johann von der Pale
1554-1556. Georg Taube
1559-1569. Andreas Koskull
Recovery
Since 1953, restoration work has been underway on the
territory of the castle. The first to be restored was the 38-meter
Main Tower.
In the late 1950s, 2 buildings of the Western
Building were restored, in particular - the Semicircular Tower.
In the early 1980s, the South Tower was reconstructed, which
housed the residence of the Riga bishop.
In the mid-1980s,
the South Tower was merged with the West Building. After the
excavations, a couple of meters high walls were built from the Main
Tower to the central entrance.
In the 1990s, the walls (up to
3 meters) of the eastern building were partially restored. The
restoration of the entire building is not planned yet.
In the
2000s, no large-scale construction work was carried out. Only minor
ones on the east building.
In the future, it is planned to
restore the Vorotovaya Tower, which will be located between the
Western Building and the Main Tower.
Museum-reserve
The
specially protected cultural monument Turaida Museum-Reserve was
founded in 1988. It includes the historical center of Turaida, is
engaged in the preservation, study and popularization of the
cultural and historical heritage that has been formed here over a
millennium, starting from the XI century. The museum-reserve
occupies an area of 42 hectares, on which there are 39 historical
buildings and structures, it is formed by a complex of natural,
historical and cultural monuments of the 11th-20th centuries: the
Turaida stone castle built in 1212 with forburgs, the Church
Mountain with a medieval cemetery, the Turaida Rose tomb and a
wooden Lutheran church built in 1750, the former economic part of
the Turaida estate with restored ponds, a folk song park with 26
sculptures by the sculptor Indulis Ranki and Mountain Dain on the
site of an ancient settlement of the Gauja Livs.