Kurzeme travel guide
Kurzeme is the westernmost region of Latvia, a healthy agricultural area half-surrounded by sea. It was once known as Courland (Kurland in German), named after the Kurši, the amber-rich seafaring people who dominated the coast before the arrival of the German crusaders. Not unlike their contemporaries, the Vikings, the Kurši often supplemented their incomes by sailing across the sea to Sweden, and even as far as Denmark, to wreak havoc on local populations, stealing everything that was worth taking. Several of their exploits are mentioned in Scandinavian sagas.
In 1561, after the break-up of Livonia, Courland came into its own. It became a duchy under the sovereignty of Poland, and included the region of Zemgale (formerly Semigallia) to the south of Riga, plus a small corner of modern Lithuania.
Powerful dukes
Courland’s dukes enjoyed a degree of independence, building castles for themselves and Lutheran churches for the people. Many became rich and powerful, notably Jacob Kettler (1642–82), who went empire-building and collected a couple of outposts, one in the Gambia, West Africa, the other the Caribbean island of Tobago. Kettler amassed his fortune largely from the pines that grow exceptionally tall and straight. The most impressive forests are in the Slitere National Park and along the sandy coastal region, which was once below the sea. Trees grow to around 35 metres (110ft), and some of them are up to 500 years old.
Kurzeme’s thriving shipbuilding and trading activities were conducted at the two important ice-free ports of Ventspils and Liepaja, which have once again become major trading hubs, rivalling even Riga. The coast around Kurzeme is a continuous white sandy beach, from just north of the major Lithuanian resort of Palanga up to the Kolka Peninsula and down to the fishing village of Mersrags and Lake Engure in the Bay of Riga. Beyond this is Jurmala, Latvia’s riviera and Zemgale.
For 45 years, until 1991, most of this coast was used by the military and was therefore inaccessible; today, even in the heat of summer, much of it remains completely deserted save the occasional kite-flyer or windsurfer. Between the coastal lowland in the west and Riga Bay in the northeast, towns, villages, churches and estates are tucked in the valleys and wooded corners of a landscape that rolls between rivers and hills. Kuldiga and Talsi are the principal inland provincial towns.
Places to visit in Kurzeme
Kuldiga
The town of Kuldiga is 160km (100 miles) west of Riga, and is a good centre for exploring the region. A castle was first built here in 1242, and in 1561 the town, known then as Goldingen, was made the capital of Courland by the first duke, Gotthard Kettler. The castle was built beside the River Venta, which was navigable all the way to Ventspils and the sea.
The city declined after the Great Northern War (1700–21) and the castle was reduced to little more than a ruin: only a park and an engraved stone marking its location remain. The churches are worth exploring: St Anne’s (Sv Annas baznica) has an impressive neo-Gothic spire, St Catherine’s Lutheran Church (Sv Katrinas luteranu baznica) has a fine wooden altar and pulpit from 1660, and there is a grand view over the town from the top of its 25-metre (85ft) tower. The Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Sv Trisvienibas katolu baznica) in Raina Street also has an impressive altar, which was donated by Tsar Alexander I in 1820.
Part of the town’s charm is derived from the Alekšupite, a tributary to the River Venta, which runs by a mill and between wooden houses that date from the 17th century. Most of the old, red-tile roofed buildings are centred around the square overlooked by the 19th-century town hall, but the main pedestrian street today is Liepajas, which runs from Raina Street a few roads back. With a wooden building that looks as if it might be a Wild West saloon, this street leads to the main modern square, dominated by two Soviet-style buildings housing a hotel and supermarket – practically the only eyesores in an otherwise charming medieval town.
At the 19th-century brick bridge over the Venta you can see the Ventas rumba, Europe’s widest waterfall, extending the 110-metre (360ft) width of the river. In the park overlooking the river is the Kuldiga Museum (Kuldigas novada muzejs), whose building is more interesting than its exhibits. It served as part of the Russian pavilion at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris and was bought by a wealthy businessman who had it shipped to Kuldiga as a gift to his fiancée.
Talsi
The region northeast of Kuldiga is Talsi, centred on the market town of the same name. Like a painting on a chocolate box, it is a pretty, tranquil idyll tucked under hills beside a large pond. Not surprisingly, it has long been an artists’ haunt. In its cobbled streets is a small local museum and a Lutheran church, whose pastor Karl Amenda was an accomplished musician and a friend of Beethoven.
North of Talsi is a series of former large country-house estates. The palace at Nogale (Nogales pils) is a particularly good example. It was built in 1880 for Baron von Firks as a summer residence and hunting lodge, and from 1920 to 1980 it was a school. It has now been restored and is once again privately owned. The two-storey neoclassical building overlooks a lake and 70 hectares (170 acres) of parkland.
Dundaga
The largest estate in the whole of the Baltics was Dundaga, the northernmost village of any size on this cape. In the 18th century the castle’s lands stretched for 700 sq km (270 sq miles), and today some attempts are being made to restore some of its former glory. The crozier and sword, symbols of the Church and the Sword Bearers, are inscribed on its entranceway, and the main door inside the courtyard is guarded by a statue of a bishop and a crusader. The estate belonged to the bishops of Courland, the last of whom was Herzog of Holstein, brother of Germany’s Frederich II.
The local church (Dundagas baznica), which is dated 1766, has woodcarvings by Soeffren and an altar painting by Latvia’s great 20th-century artist, Janis Rozentals. Memorials to several members of the Osten-Sachens family are scattered in the church grounds, but the most notable memorial (Krokodils), located on the north side of Dundaga, is dedicated to local boy Arvids Blumentals, who emigrated to Australia and, after hunting 10,000 crocodiles, served as the prototype for the character “Crocodile Dundee”.
Ventspils
The heyday for Ventspils was under Duke Jacob, who launched his ships for the Caribbean and West Africa from here. But, after his death, Ventspils went into decline and following the plague of 1710 was reduced to just seven families. It enjoyed a cultural renaissance during the years of independence, and after World War II the Soviet Union built it up as an industrial centre. In the 1990s Russian petrodollars made the tiny town the wealthiest in Latvia, and its manicured parks, tidy streets and renovated buildings are a testament to this prosperity. The pipeline has dried up in the wake of worsening relations between the two countries, and the city now survives on revenues from oil tankers at its portside terminal.
Ventspils’ charming historical centre is tiny and can easily be explored on foot. The town’s most striking attraction is the restored Livonian Order Castle (Ventspils pils) dating back to 1290, which houses the Ventspils Museum (Ventspils muzejs) and a medieval restaurant. Behind the castle is the promenade on the bank of the River Venta where visitors can watch ships passing by or, in the summer, take a short cruise from the east end. The 18th-century Baroque Town Hall is also worth a visit, as well as St Nicholas’ Church, built in 1835 on the opposite side of the square.
Sunbathers can take advantage of the city’s Blue Flag beach, and a few hours can be whiled away at the Seaside Outdoor Ethnographic Museum (Piejuras brivdabas muzejs), where the main attraction is a working narrow-gauge railway. Nineteenth-century houses and fishing boats hundreds of years old are also on display.
Liepaja
The other significant port on this coast is Liepaja (130km (80 miles) south of Ventspils, with almost twice its population (85,000). Liepaja is a centre of metal-smelting and was a major Soviet military base with submarine pens. Known throughout the nation as the city where the wind is born, Liepaja was Latvia’s Gdansk, where the first organised grass-roots opposition to Soviet rule began in the 1980s.
The city is also a major cultural centre, claiming some of the nation’s best musicians and artists as its own. While it’s often hard to find a live act in Riga, rock bands perform nearly every night at “Latvia’s 1st Rock Café”, in Liepaja city centre.
The Liepaja Museum (Liepajas muzejs), located in a fine 19th-century house on Kurmajas prospkets, is worth a visit. The street ends at the Blue Flag beach, one of only three in Latvia, where a monument to mariners lost at sea was erected in 1977.
