Digital collections, exhibitions and other valuable resources by Latvian culture and memory institutions
Knuts Skujenieks
The aim of the multimedia website “Knuts Skujenieks” is to preserve the poet's literary heritage and living space and to make it accessible to everyone in a virtual environment. It is designed as a guided tour in time and space where the poet himself reads poetry, talks about the creative process, gives his comments on things and objects.
Landscape treasures
Landscape treasures are places and territories in Latvian countryside, villages, and towns that are considered to be of special value to the country, regardless of their conservation status and grandeur. They are landscapes that make us pause in the rush of everyday life and that we want to experience again and again. They contain a special significance that we want to inscribe in Latvian history and pass on to our children and grandchildren.
Latgale in song
magnificent Latgale Song Festival held in 2010, which marked a new page in the history of song festivals. On the Daugavpils Stropi stage, the song once again resounded, proving once again that even in the age of globalization there is a place for the people's soul's prayer for eternity.
Latvian Cultural Canon
The Latvian Cultural Canon is a collection of the most outstanding and remarkable works of art and cultural values in Latvia. It includes values that characterise Latvian culture in various fields: architecture and design; landscapes; literature; music; performing arts; cinema; traditional culture; visual arts.
Latvian Prose Counter
An experimental text analysis website that allows you to look at various quantitative parameters of 19th and 20th century Latvian literary works, such as the frequency of word usage and others.
Latvian archives from around the world
The digital archive "Latvian Archives from Around the World" incorporates digital and digitised archival materials stored by Latvian communities around the world. This digital archive is special in that its content is created by representatives of Latvian diaspora communities, who independently process and digitise archival materials according to guidelines prepared by PBLA.
Latvian cultural monuments
Database and map of Latvian cultural monuments.
Latvian diaspora documents
The Latvian diaspora documents database collects information related to historical heritage of the diaspora in Latvia and worldwide. This heritage consists of documents from both individuals and organisations that have left significant testimonies about the life of exiled people abroad. The collection covers the period between the years of the Second World War and the restoration of independence in Latvia.
Latvian footprints around the world
The exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre reveals the fascinating life stories of six Latvian families who either left their homeland to seek a better life or were forced to flee their ancestral land to save their lives.
Latvians in Great Britain
Before the Second World War, several hundred Latvians lived, studied, and worked in England, and at the end of 1941 they founded the Society of Latvians in Great Britain. After the end of the war, around 16,000 Latvian refugees arrived in England. The virtual exhibition “Latvians in Great Britain” is prepared for a wide range of visitors to give an insight into historical events, everyday life, political and social activities, culture, and literature of Latvians in Great Britain. Visitors can find documents, photographs, historical newsreels, and audio extracts that tell the story of Latvian life in Britain.
Literatura.lv
The website is a fundamental resource in the field of literature which correctly and professionally provides written and visual information about Latvian writing process, persons, works, organisations, received awards from the beginning of development of literature in Latvia to the present day. Literatura.lv also offers audio recordings, virtual exhibitions, and a reading room.
Lost Latvia (Zudusī Latvija)
“Zudusī Latvija” image collection provides an opportunity to view more than 51,000 images reflecting the history of Latvia. The collection contains digitised drawings, postcards, and photographs from the second half of the 19th century to the present day.
Luther. The turn
Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, published in Wittenberg in 1517, and the Reformation he initiated, transformed Europe, and these distant events have a direct impact on us in Latvia at the beginning of the 21st century. A digital version of the stories of late medieval piety and Luther's fight against indulgences.
Map collection
The collection includes several thousand maps issued from the early 17th century to the present day. The collection allows browsing, searching, and selecting maps, looking up place names and addresses, measuring areas and distances, and comparing historical cartographic data with modern data.
Old Latvians of Wisconsin
At the end of the 19th century, one of the oldest and largest Latvian colonies in the United States was established in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. The exhibition by the Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre traces the varied paths of several Latvian emigrant families from their place of origin in Latvia to the faraway forests of Wisconsin.
Pēteris Upītis. Bookmarks
The work of Latvian graphic artist and collector Peteris Upitis (Pēteris Upītis), with special focus on the bookmarks or ex libris he made and collected. They form a large collection held by the National Archives of Latvia. It includes bookmarks made by Upitis himself and by many Latvian and foreign artists as well as extensive correspondence with artists and collectors from various countries. The exhibition includes Upitis' graphic works, fragments of correspondence, photographs, videos, memoirs, etc.
Raduraksti
Databases and digitised documents created by the Latvian National Archives, the Latvian State Historical Archives, and the Latvian State Archives which can be used for family history research for the period between 17th century and mid-20th century. The most important collections of documents are church books of various denominations, “soul audits” (census) in manors, and general census materials in the territory of Latvia.
Rainis un Aspazija
This collection of linked data offers new, until now untapped opportunities in Latvia to discover online treasures of memory institutions and private collections in the form of interlinked information. The collection includes editions of both writers' works, letters, and other textual documents as well as photographs, posters, audio and video material.
Riga City Archives
A virtual exhibition of the National Archives of Latvia presents the history of Riga City Archives and gives an insight into the diversity of documents it once held, including the collection of Riga City Council (Rīgas rāte) minutes from 1603 to 1890 included in the Latvian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. The exhibition provides a virtual tour of the historical, unique archive rooms of Riga City Council at the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation at Palasta iela 4.
Savējie!
The Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre’s exhibition about those Latvians who are living and working outside of Latvia, and bringing Latvia’s name to the world – about people who have achieved significant results in the most diverse fields and professions. 24 stories of professional Latvians in the 21st century.
Search in the National Archives of Latvia (“MeklēLNA”) (collections, cases, documents)
“MeklēLNA” is a search engine ensuring access to the Unified State Archives Information System which includes information about the collections, cases, and documents kept in the National Archives of Latvia.
See, Hear Latvia!
The digital repository of the National Archives of Latvia provides an opportunity to search and explore films, photographs and sound recordings about Latvia, its people, and various political, social, and cultural events from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Taken library, reconstructed library
The virtual exhibition is dedicated to the former library of the Jesuit College of Riga which was moved as spoils of war. The library was started by the Jesuits in 1583. During the Polish-Swedish War (1601-1629), Riga was occupied by Swedish troops and the library was taken to Sweden as spoils of war.
The Industrial Heritage
Collection on the history of manufacturing in Latvia contains information about more than 100 Latvian manufacturing companies and provides access to more than 50,000 pages of documents from the Latvian National Archives, more than 1000 photographs from regional libraries, 76 large-format blueprints, 400 historic newsreels and other interesting materials.
The Joint Catalogue of the National Holdings of Museums
The Joint Catalogue of the National Holdings of Museums is a catalogue including the collections of all accredited museums in Latvia. In total, Latvian museums hold more than 5.9 million museum objects. Only about 5% of this collection is on display in permanent exhibitions.
The Periodicals website
The Periodicals website contains around 3000 sets of newspapers and magazines – more than 8 million pages – from both Latvian and exile periodicals from the mid-18th century to the present day.
VEF 100 (1919-2019)
The aim of the virtual exhibition is to show the life of VEF from its foundation to its rebirth, to reveal the importance of the factory and its products in society. To highlight the human factor, the most important pillar of any company, by showing the daily life, work, leisure, everyday troubles, tragedies and great, perhaps previously hidden, heroism of the employees – the VEFers.
Wearing Latvia
The Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre’s exhibition “Wearing Latvia” features 40 Latvian national costumes from abroad and the stories of their wearers and makers from Europe, incl. Russia, Australia and the Americas. The exhibition reveals the symbolic significance of the folk costumes and the history of their wearing and making – life in refugee camps, later on in Latvian communities in exile, and in today’s emigrant centres. The history of folk costumes made by Latvians living abroad – the particularly unique methods and creative ingenuity employed – reveals the diversity of Latvian craftsmanship in the diaspora, where emotional and social aspects often prevailed over ethnographic precision.
Womage
The website is dedicated to the contribution of women to Latvian culture and society. It offers biographical descriptions and photographs of women: public and cultural figures, politicians, writers, artists, actresses, teachers, doctors, and other professionals whose active career dates back to the period from 1870 to 1940.
Writings by Brethren congregations (Unitas Fratrum)
The collection includes historical, biographical, and religious original writings, translations, and transcriptions of Brethren congregations in various genres from the mid-18th to the early 19th century.
diva.lv
Access portal to Latvia's digitised video and audio recordings, providing historical, informative, and educational materials on Latvia's social processes, daily life, and cultural values. Currently, the website provides access to cultural and historical video and audio recordings from Latvian Television and Latvian Radio.
eMuseum
Digital resource collection of the National History Museum of Latvia
filmas.lv
You have entered the website www.filmas.lv created by the National Film Centre and Culture Information Systems Centre. Here you can explore the world of Latvian cinema.
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