My town – my EuropeMy town – my Europe

Excursion Rīga – Kurzeme

2007/2008

IntroductionIntroduction“My town– my Europe”. This is the name of the school’s international project. Students from Latvia, Poland, Italy and France take part in it. The purpose of the project is to get to know other countries, cities and school life of these countries in order to realize, that we are a part of the whole Europe.As part of the project students from the 9th and 11th forms of our school went to the excursion to Kurzeme with a purpose to see it’s cities and the most famous culture- historical places, to make a concept about relief and nature landscapes of Latvia, to understand the history of the region and to introduce it to the students of foreign countries.During the excursion we became informed about the nature, citizens, history, architecture and art of Talsi and also visited Valpen pyramid, the school of Kubele, the palace of Dundaga, Slitere and radiotelescope of Irbene. Information about town Mazirbe, which could be visited, in case we had two-day excursion, and radiotelescope’s of Ventspils are also included in our work.In the beginning of the work the sights we have visited and the route of the excursion are shown on the map and is attached the physiogeographical map of the region. In continuation of the project there is a description of the culture- historical places we have visited and are enclosed in the diagrams and photos. In conclusion students expressed their personal opinion about this project.

TalsiTalsiTalsi is one of the most beautiful cities in Latvia. There is an opinion that in ancient times Talsi has streched on seven hills – Mill holl, Hill Keninkalns, Lecu Hill, Sun Hill, Tigulu Hill, Church hill, Hillfort. Today Talsi is known as “The town of nine hills”. Talsi district is located in North-Western part of Courland and borders Ventspils, Kuldiga and Tukums regionsTalsi region is rich of small rivers and lakes which are perfect for recreation and fishing. Untouched, wild landscapes and well preserved ethnographic traditions coexisting with the monuments of culture and history are the main reasons for teh popularity of this region between the tourists.

Climate:Average January temperature: -4,5 degrees centigrade,Average July temperature: 16,3 degrees centigrade,Rainfall: 652mm per year.

There are many museums in Talsi, open museums, monuments, etc. There is a beautiful rectory with a magnificent garden and nature trail. There is also a small old barn antique tools can be seen. Farm implements and machinery of late 19th and 20th centuries can be found in the Museum of agricultural Machinery “Kaleji”, namely tilling, sowing and harvesting machinery, treshers, winnowers, mills, power-driven vehicles and engines such as tractors, stationary engines and motorcycles, metal and wood processing tools and production samples, dome4stic items, lighting appliances, audio equipment and TV sets. Museum was opened in 1982.

In the beginning of the 21st century in Talsi there are approx. 11,5 thousand inhabitants ( including 2582 pensioners and 2668 children). Most of them are Latvians, Russians and Gypsies. For example, in year 1826 in Talsi there were 383 inhabitants: 56 Latvians, 233 Germans and 88 Jews.

Monument “Koklētājs”Monument “Koklētājs”Architecture

The center of historical building ir around hill called Baznīckalns which is located in semicircle of Talsi lake. Splendid nature – hills, lake – make view, which is full with small buildings, more beautiful. In the yard there are two – storey household buildings. Among wood buildings are started to build two – storey and three – storey brick wall buildings, which almost all have soofs with two sloping surfaces. That kind of roofs are very proper to Talsi if we compare Talsi with other cities in this Latvia region called Kurzeme.Since the end of 19th century maincity street is Lielā street, which connects both parts of Talsi. That is the most beautiful street in Talsi. In Talsi there are several distinguished quality buildings, like in 1806 built chapel of Kupferu family, in 1885 built summer estate for baron Firks family which now is regional museum of Talsi. Around this estate there is beautiful park.

Art

Big part of city reflects in punishment and memory places, cemeteries and monuments. Today one of the places where people the spot can materializē their project is Ķēniņhill, which has become very important. Already when Latvia became independant first time, Talsi ordered sculptor Kārlis Zemdegs statue called “Koklētājs”. This statue is dedicated to soldiers who died in the First World War. In the forests of Dundagaregion has found suitable granite and people collected money for statue. Though sculptor Vilnis Titāns started to realizē this project just in 1995, in Movember 16, 1996 acured the disclosure of monument. For a long time Talsi is one of the favourite cities for painters.

ValpeneValpene

The pyramid of Valpene is situated in Dundaga, region of Talsi.

Pyramid of valpene was a deducation for the father of Dainas (national folk songs) Krisjanis Barons. It symbolizes the work that he had done by gathering together all latvian national folk songs.

School of KubeleSchool of Kubele

This house (built in 1842) was the first and next 28 years the only peasant children school in district of Dundaga’s estate.

This is the oldest preserved school in Kurzeme built using structure of horizontal logs.

Castle of DundagaCastle of Dundaga

Castle of Dundaga was built in 1318, and it is one of the most beautiful castles of Latvia. It is situated on a peninsula near river Pace. Main function of the castle was storehouse where products were stored before transportation to Riga.

Much later, in the Soviet times a high school was situated in this castle (Oh, lucky children!)

Nowadays when the local council owns the castle, a musical school and tourism information center are situated there.

National Park of SlītereNational Park of SlītereIn 1921 a group of forest assessors made an inventory of Slitere forestry, during which they selected 1,100 ha of wild forest for the reservation. In this area, all kinds of human activities were prohibited and this was the beginning of the present Slitere National Park. Time passed, the political, economical situation in Latvia changed, and the area of Slitere Nature Reserve increased until, in 1987, it reached 15,000 ha. During the land reform, which began in 1991, the territory of the reserve was decreased to 13,000 ha. From 1979, the Slitere Nature Reserve has functioned as an independent state budget institution. In 2000, the status of territory has changed to national park with total area 16,360 ha.

Slitere National Park can be considered a unique museum of the Baltic Sea’s geological history. From the newest geological formations - the sand dunes, we can go back a long way into the past: across the complex of dunes and peat bogs between them, which were formed during the Postlittorina period of the last 4,000 years, across the Littorian sea (the Baltic Sea’s development stage from 8,300 - 4,000 years ago) and the Ancilus lake (9,000 - 8,300 years ago) shore formations to the Blue Hills of Slitere, which is the ancient bank of the Baltic Ice Lake (11,000 - 9,000 years ago).

Radio Telescope of IrbeneRadio Telescope of IrbeneTwo years after Latvia had recovered its independence, appeared that exists a secret military object of the Soviet army – a cosmic communication center “Zvaigznīte” in Ventspils district, town Irbene. There are two radio antennas in diameter of 16 and 32 meters, buildings for providing their operational status, constructions and communication.

Radio telescope R-32 in visiting card video clip “Welcome to Latvia”, which is made Vides filmu studija (Enviroment film studios). You won’t find anything like this in Baltic States or anywhere further. This is a unique symbol of the Soviet war machine.

“We consider that that radio telescope of Ventspils will give significant investment in world-scale science and will serve for improvement statue of Latvia in the future,” says researcher Kārlis Bērziņš.

ConclusionConclusionDue to international school project “My city – my Europe” toured Kurzeme, getting known towns and remarkable heritage – value objects, had gotten a view about relief of Latvia, seascapes and to create an idea about heritage-value objects in Kurzeme.

Due to project with happiness had seen Kurzeme, had gotten known to beautiful views, history and people’s life. Had gotten a lot of information about things, places and people.

Such excursions are very suitable, because they make you interested in many things, which regularly are not

available.