Ethnographic Open-air Museum of Latvia in Riga

Our trip in Latvia is coming to an end and I would like to finish this series with a tour of The Ethnographic Open-air Museum of Latvia which is located just outside of Riga.

It is the largest open-air museum that I have ever visited. Actually, it is much bigger than what we expected and if you will get a chance to go there make sure to plan a full day as otherwise you won't be able to see everything. There are also a couple of stalls with refreshment, so you won't be hungry. You can also get some locally made products as they offer a good variety of them.

Latvia consists of Kurzeme, Zemgale, Vidzeme, Selija and Latgale, and each of these regions is represented in the museum. Those regions had different nobility, church, landscape and location, and you can see those nuances in the exposition.

Let's start out tour!

When you drive from Riga you need to pay attention as you can easily miss the exit like we did. Luckily, another exit is not so far away, so we could turn around within a few minutes and drive back. There is a large parking space right in front of the museum which is convenient. It's even better that it's for free. The ticket office is right next to the parking space. The admission fee is 2 EUR per person.

Once you pay your fee and walk through the main gate you will see the former Roadside pub. Today, it holds events, such weddings or birthdays, and this is also the place where you can get your souvenirs. We saw it decorated for an event and it really looked beautiful. The lady working there doesn't speak English, but we somehow managed to communicate and buy some beautiful ceramic plates.

You will get a map of the areal when you purchase your tickets, and you should make sure to use it as you can easily get lost and spend a lot of time trying to come back on track.

We chose to start with Kurzeme which is the region with closest links to the sea. The inhabitants engaged mainly in fishing.

The first building that we came across was this wooden church. It was built at the beginning of the 18th century and placed in the museum in 1935. The church was the heart of each village with all important ceremonies and events held there.

I loved the interior of the church, especially the paintings on the ceiling. And that smell of the wood was amazing!

We marked each house on our map to make sure that we visit them all, but it was not possible as the areal is simply too big.

All of them have nicely groomed gardens, and we were lucky to come in summer as there were many colorful flowers, raspberries, wild strawberries and blueberries as well.

Most of the barns were closed, but we found it charming anyway. We were walking in the forest, listening to birds chirping their throats away and enjoying the sunshine.

There were some benches on the way and we chose one to eat our lunch. It looks idyllic, but we were so scared of ticks! Luckily, we didn't get any.

Have you ever heard of a locomobile? Me neither 🙂 Not before I saw this one. This locomobile is powered by a steam engine and it was produced in England. Only the wealthiest farmers could afford one.

Wind-mills always make me think of The Netherlands, but they have long tradition in Latvia too. This is the oldest type of the so-called pole mills. It dates back to the 19th century.

This was a perfect moment - tall trees, grass carpet and soft light...

And now we are coming to my favorite part of the museum, The Kazaki house. It's only about 100 years old, but it is preserved with its original furniture, so you can learn a lot about households in Latvia before the war.

The exterior of the house reminds me a bit of the Nordics. Look at that bright yellow color.

The house consists of 3 rooms and a big kitchen. The walls are decorated with traditional paintings and there are many hand-made textiles everywhere in the house.

If I lived at that time my kitchen would probably look similar. There were many herbs drying around the room, many towels set in random places and lots of pottery.

We spent some time inside as it was so cozy, but there was still a lot to see, so eventually we had to continue walking.

We passed by the bath house which looked very similar to the one that we visited in Turaida.

And then we came to this huge wind-mill. I can imagine that it was used for some other activities than the first wind-mill that we saw as its construction is completely different.

I was intrigued by this tiny red church-like construction as only one person can fit there at time. It's called a Crucifix hut and its appearance is indeed a copy of a congregation church.

Another house that we were able to enter was originally built in the village of Pasiene in the former Ludza district. It's sort of a patchwork house as each part was built at different time.

It's a house of a farmer family, and from what I understood from my grandma, my great-grandparents lived in a similar house.

The house was very simple and practical. Traditionally, the shoes in the room were hanging to dry out. They don't look very comfortable, but I can imagine that they served their purpose well.

This is the view from the garden of this house. I wouldn't mind living like this 🙂

When I think of Latvia I wouldn't particularly think of religion. But this is where I was wrong. There were so many churches, crucifix huts, and crucifix places like this in the museum. Inhabitants of small villages met around the crucifixes in May to sing sacred songs, and during religious celebrations the crosses were decorated with flowers and evergreens.

And yet another religious construction 🙂

There were many people walking around in traditional clothes (like the woman sitting on the bench). They were there to strengthen the feeling of the past time as well as to provide any information if needed. As per our experience they didn't speak much English, so were of no help to us.

The exterior of this chapel combines classicism with the elements of folk architecture. Such chapel were typical for the late 19th century.

The museum is located at the lake Jugla. It is a large urban lake with many beaches and some beautiful views. However, the water didn't look very clean, so we skipped swimming.

We were approaching a small bistro, but we came across one more interesting house that we wanted to see before having a drink and leaving as we were getting tired. This house is situated next to the lake, and it's because it was originally built in a fishermen village of Pape.

We couldn't miss these cute wooden bunnies placed behind the house...

Let's go inside!

In the past, it was common to sleep and dine in the same room. The houses were small and even though there were more rooms it was cheaper to heat only one of them.

This is the other side of the room. I remember my mom saying that when she was a child she loved to sleep in the kitchen as it was nice and warm. Her favorite place was right next to the oven.

There were freshly cut flowers in each room of this house. It looked very nice.

And the view wasn't bad at all...

This spinning wheel looks exactly like the one that my grandma stored in the attic. Sweet memories...

This was the nicest garden in the museum with many bees flying around. We wanted to stay and enjoy it a bit longer, but it was too hot and we needed to drink something, so we had to leave...

But before we leave the museum, I would like to show you my favorite memories of this day:

My husband did some chores in our favorite house. I'm sure this broom is there for a purpose. People like my husband can get a cool photo and do some cleaning as well, so that the employees don't have that much on their plate 🙂

He also took the responsibility of marking each house that we visited. It wasn't an easy job as we didn't always follow the route, but he did well. You can see the focus on his face 🙂

The open-air museum in Riga is a perfect place for families. You can learn some interesting facts, enjoy traditional architecture and your kids can run around which is good for you too as they will be tired in the evening. We saw many parents following these principles.

I hope you have enjoyed another day with us.

Thank you for reading,

Cheers!
Martina