Lovers of fusion design, architecture and of the renovation of historical buildings with a contemporary twist find many treasures and inspiration in Latvia — many of them done with great taste and much understanding of old techniques and handcrafts.
In Latvia,many individual hotel and restaurant projects, but also manors, public buildings or museums are creatively rejuvenated and brought up to international standards. Places like Kuldiga and Liepaja in the West of Latvia are re-flourishing and so are Historic mansions and castles in all regions of the country.
Due to Latvia’s rich history there are and were many palaces, manors, castles and fortresses which are now renovated with great care and responsibility and are open to be used for events of all kinds. Many of them have cool event halls and huge estates and nature around them and are perfect for high-end meetings and brainstorming as well as for romantic weddings or celebrations.
One of the greatest rebuilding projects in the country is Rundale Palace, which was in ruins in 1971, the time when the decision was made to restore it.
I would like to quote here from the book “Latvia – 100 snapshot stories” which was published on occasion of the celebrations of Latvia’s 100th Anniversary in 2018. It says the following on page 79 about Rundale Palace:
“Try to picture the condition of a grand baroque palace after a few revolutions, two world wars, being used as a school for many years and as a granary, poorly maintained and never properly repaired”
This is hard to imagine, when you see the building today — splendid and in all its greatness, it came out of the restoration process like Phoenix from the ashes. Formerly planned as an elegant architectural masterpiece, designed by Barolomeo Rastrelli and built in mid 1700s as the summer residence for the Duke of Courland in the plains of Zemgale, one of the regions of Latvia — the works on the reconstruction project were finished in 2015. The Palace complex with 16 buildings and a surface covering 72 hectares is now one of the most beautiful and popular tourism destinations in Latvia and back to it’s orginal elegance.
Many masters of restoration were involved in recreating the rooms and interiors, as well as art pieces which match the style were curated and bought. It was a Latvian painter and art historian, Imants Lancmanis, who has spent most of his lifetime dedicated to lead the revival of this baroque jewel of the Baltics.
In 2019, Imants Lancmanis retired after 50 years involvement in Rundale Palaces revival and a new director was appointed, Dr. Laura Lūse, who we met in Rundale Palace in summer and who took us around to show what all had to be considered and taken into account while reconstructing the great palace. Every element of the rooms — from marvellous woodwork and wall panels, tapestry, colours, to furniture, floors and doors and researching the finest suppliers of the glamorous fabrics that fortunately samples were still available.
All items look so fresh and have beautiful colours which makes a big difference to many known decors in castles which tend to give a bit of a dusty appearance — here in Rundale it looks as taken from a sample book for glorious design!
Laura has explained her ideas and visions as of what will be done to transform the Palace into a canvas and platform for cultural festivities, concerts and events for artists and crafts. The beauty needs to be seen and filled with life. There are various options for events and receptions in Rundale Palace which are selected with great care to pay respect to the importance of the place. Also one of the outside stables on the ground is presently transformed into a regular event venue.
A green outdoor auditorium in the amazing park with its famous Rose Garden can be as well used for events — like receptions, performances or presentations. If you are interested in Rundale Palace and its event possibilities please contact us or Dr Lūse and her team, more details on: https://www.latvia.travel/en/sight/rundale-palace-and-museum
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Following are the topics that you will read about in the ongoing series on Latvia and Riga — it is worthwhile to explore them and pick those which are most relevant to your kind of business. You will be able to source some true gems for fresh and new destinations for your Incentive trips or Meetings!
- Latvia for Intl. Congresses and Conferences
- Magnetic Latvia – Experiential Hubs for Rebuilding, Architecture and Design
- Destination Latvia – an abundance of water and nature
- Sport in Latvia: infrastructure, events and education
- Arts and Artists — experiencing, discovering and learning about art in Latvia
- New hotels and restaurants open in Riga and across the country
For any requests you have or help that you require for putting together a MICE program for your clients, contact:
Ieva Gredzena, LIAA (Investment and Development Agency of Latvia) email: Ieva.Gredzena@liaa.gov.lv
Aigars Smiltans of MeetRiga, email: aigars.smiltans@liveriga.lv
Or contact me at tmf dialogue marketing, Johanna Fischer email j.fischer@tmf-dialogue.com
