Latvian National History Museum (Latvijas Nacionalais vestures muzejs) description and photo - Latvia: Riga (Topic)

Latvian National History Museum (Latvijas Nacionalais vestures muzejs) description and photos - Latvia: Riga. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. Name in English - Latvijas Nacionalais vestures muzejs.

Photo and description

The Latvian National History Museum has about 1 million exhibits that make up the country's unique cultural and historical heritage.

In 1868, the Riga Latvian Society was founded. One of the commissions, working as part of the society, began collecting museum exhibits with the aim of creating a museum as opposed to the already functioning museums, which were headed by the Baltic Germans. In the first years of its work, the new museum accepted everything that was presented to it. In 1890, the first temporary ethnographic exhibition was held in the museum.

In 1896, the Riga Latvian Society, preparing for the next All-Russian Archaeological Congress in Riga, decided to organize a Latvian ethnographic exhibition. For this, several ethnographic expeditions were organized, which went to different parts of the country in order to collect values. The expeditions have resulted in about 6,000 exhibits. As a result, the exhibition, which ran from August 1, 1896 to September 15, was a tremendous success. In such a short period of time it was visited by about 45 thousand people.

In 1903, the Riga Latvian Society acquired a building on the street. Paulucci (now Merkel Street) to house the museum. A couple of years later, the museum was opened to visitors. Thus, new opportunities have appeared for educating people, as well as strengthening the national identity of local residents. In 1914, construction began on a new building for the needs of the museum. The construction was carried out with donations from Latvians. However, the First World War disrupted construction plans, and subsequently the project was never completed.

In 1918, the Riga Latvian Society handed over the exhibits of the museum to the state. In 1920, the premises located in the Riga Castle were allocated for the museum. In 1924, the museum acquired the status of a state museum, since that time it bears the name - "State Historical Museum". The period from the 20s to 40s of the 20th century can be called the heyday of the museum. The collections were replenished with exhibits, the number of people working in the museum increased. In 1930 and 1936. the museum organized exhibitions in Paris, branches of the museum were opened in other cities of Latvia. By 1939, there were 150 thousand items in the collection of the museum fund.

During the Second World War, the museum did not stop its activities, although in many ways, its work was, of course, complicated. After the war, it was necessary to put all the work of the museum in order, in addition, it was necessary to look for new employees, although it was possible to create a professional team in a rather short time.

By the beginning of the 90s, the museum fund had a little more than half a million exhibits. The museum staff actively conducted their scientific and research activities, carrying out excavations, participating in expeditions.

Since September 1, 2005, the museum has been called the National Museum of the History of Latvia. Professionals of the international level work here. At the moment, there are about 1 million storage units. The main exposition of the museum acquaints visitors with the history of the country from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century. Museum employees are actively involved in collecting, storing, researching and popularizing the museum's collections. Annually, in addition to the permanent exhibition of the museum, it hosts temporary exhibitions, sometimes a series of thematic expositions are offered to visitors. In addition, all kinds of educational programs for schoolchildren are offered. The Latvian National Museum of History has been successful in publishing, publishing exhibition catalogs, articles, travel guides.

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Topic: Latvian National History Museum (Latvijas Nacionalais vestures muzejs) description and photo - Latvia: Riga.