Cesvaine Castle, Latvia: description

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The grandiose Cesvai Castle was built in just eight years from 1886 to 1894. The customer and the first owner was Baron Adolf Wolf, who spent a fabulous sum of three million gold rubles on the castle. The castle was built as a hunting lodge and a country residence, it was intended for the beloved wife of the baron, who did not live to see the completion of construction.

The palace was built by German architects Hans Grisebach and August Dinklas. The baron followed fashion and loved progress, so all the innovations of that time were immediately installed in the house - plumbing, sewerage, electricity and even internal telephone communication.

The Baron was proud of his home and often invited guests to enjoy hunting, entertainment and relaxation with them. He fell in love with the castle so much that in his will he indicated that he wanted to rest under the canopy of centuries-old oaks in the park of the palace. The baron died at the beginning of the 20th century far from home, but his body was transported and buried in the place he had chosen. Today the grave of the owner of the castle can be seen in the park. After 10For years, the castle was sold to another owner, who set up a gymnasium within its walls, and then changes broke out.

Our time

In 1919, Cesvaine Castle (Latvia) was nationalized and a secondary school for children was set up in it. In 2002, a large-scale fire broke out in the palace, destroying the roof. Strange as it may seem, but at the beginning of the 21st century, the school was heated in the same way as under Baron Wulff - with firewood. It is even more strange that the school did not have any fire extinguishing and alarm systems.

Locals believe that the castle was saved from complete destruction by fire by a guardian - a mysterious bronze beast with a wolf's head, a fox's tail and a lion's body. The sculpture rises on the roof of the left wing of the palace and at all times was considered the talisman of the estate. During the big fire, she did not suffer at all, perhaps it was this mythical animal, the whim of the baron, that saved the architectural monument from destruction.

Currently, the roof of the castle has been restored, a music school, a tourist center and a museum operate on the premises. Restoration work has not yet been completed, tourists are invited to view the first floors of the palace, specialists and builders are working in the rest of the premises.

Architecture

Cesvaine Castle was built in the neoclassical style, in its architecture an experienced eye will find features of Gothic, Art Nouveau and Renaissance. The walls are made of wild stone, giving it a flair of antiquity. The exterior of the palace has been completely restored, while interior work continues. As a result of the fire, almost completely destroyedthe wall paintings are unique, but the wooden staircase is well preserved, the stucco molding has been cleaned in many rooms, the magnificent fireplaces and spaces of each room amaze the imagination.

There are several underground passages from Cesvaine Castle. They were laid at the direction of the baron, who believed that this would be a romantic highlight of the palace. Today, most of the passages are covered with people or collapsed, it is not possible to get there. At the disposal of tourists there is a huge basement and an upper observation deck in one of the towers of the palace, they climb it along a narrow stone ladder. From the top floor, you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the surroundings and the stork nest that nests on one of the chimneys every summer.

Cesvaine Castle was built next to the ruins of a medieval military structure, they adorned the park for quite a long time, but during the war it was completely destroyed, with the exception of a small fragment, which can still be admired today.

Acoustic room

Description of the Cesvaine Castle would be incomplete without talking about its mysteries, myths and peculiarities. One of the mysteries is the acoustic room - a small room under a round roof. It is impossible to stay in it for more than 20 minutes, people get sick, many lose consciousness.

The servants of the palace say that if a bat flies into the room at night, then by morning it will die, completely losing orientation in space, it will break against the walls. In this roomit is impossible to make audio recordings, no media can capture human speech. Physicists cannot explain what is happening in the room and put forward one theory after another, but no one has yet revealed the secrets of this room.

Without windows and doors

Cesvaine Castle has its own mystical history associated with one of the towers, sometimes called the Tower of Ghosts. She is curious in that there is no way to get inside - there are no doors at all, but there are four windows under the roof itself. Of course, the first and main version was the myth that countless treasures, gold, jewelry were walled up in it.

Check what is actually in the tower, no one dares, the main factor in scaring off idle curious people is the belief that anyone who looks into the windows or, even more so, gets inside the immured room, will meet a quick death. And there is evidence that the predictions about the death of treasure seekers came true. So, an unexpected death overtook two directors of the gymnasium and two high school students who at different times tried to look into the tower from the roof.

It is curious that no one has hit the tower so far. Historians believe that it appeared by chance during the construction of the palace. First, an extension was erected, and only later they gave it the appearance of a tower, completing the upper floors and decorating them with windows. During the fire in 2002, neither the students nor the firefighters dared to look through the windows, and this mystery remains unsolved.

Park and county

The park is an integral part of the Cesvaincastle. Photos of stairs, grottoes, paths and centuries-old oaks speak eloquently about the beauty of the landscape, urging tourists to take a romantic walk. Descending the majestic staircase and leaving behind the vastness of the palace, the visitor sets off on an interesting journey, where on the way he will meet grottoes, springs, bridges over the river and much more.

Wandering around the area, you can go to the outbuildings - a stable with an arena for horse riding, there were also impressive pantries, a brewery, rooms for grooms and a detached manager's house, built in the style of a Swiss chalet.

There are other attractions in the town of Cesvaine - the largest Lutheran church in Latvia, the ruins of a medieval Catholic church and several other ancient architectural monuments.

Reviews

Tourists have left the most enthusiastic reviews about Cesvaine Castle. The stories describe the incredible impression that he makes on anyone who enters his rooms or the park. Visitors note that by now a lot has already been restored. Most tourists noted the beauty of the fireplaces and their decoration, many liked the old-fashioned wooden staircase and the intricacy of the building itself.

Tourists liked the informative tours, managed to learn a lot of facts, some ventured to pass the test in the acoustic room. It is noted that the museum staff are friendly, answer allquestions and try to give as much information as possible about the castle and its owner - the merry fellow and adventurer Baron Wulf.

Useful information

The address of the palace is simple - Latvia, the city of Cesvaine.

Castle opening hours depend on the season:

• From May to October, the castle is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00, Monday is a non-working day
• From November to the end of April, the castle is open only on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00.

The cost of the entrance ticket is 2 euros.

You can get to Cesvaine Castle from Riga by regular bus, first reaching the city of Madona, where you need to transfer to a bus of local routes that run frequently, you won’t have to wait long for transport.