Although the duchy of Courland and Semigallia was commonly called Courland, its common capital was still Zemgale. The center of Courland itself was traditionally considered Goldingen, or Kuldiga - once the most powerful Livonian castle on the left bank, and now - a small (13 thousand inhabitants) ancient town, a kind of Latvian Suzdal.
Let's say on the title frame - a wooden town hall of the 17th century.
The main river of Courland is the Venta, at the mouth of which stands Ventspils, respectively. Like the Gauja in Livonia, it almost entirely belonged to the Teutonic Order, dividing the possessions of the Bishopric of Courland in half (but at the same time, the capital of the latter, Pilten, stood on the Venta). The largest settlement of the Curonians, Bandava, was also located on Venta, a few kilometers from modern Kuldiga. When the Teutons settled in the Baltics, a strategic road from Livonia to Prussia passed here, and in the 1240s, Goldingen Castle grew up at the largest ford on the Venta (originally "Ezusburg", that is, "city of Jesus", but this name did not take root), the most powerful in the Livonian Zadvinye. In 1355 Goldingen became a city, and in 1368 joined the Hansa. Above the ancient ford is now the Brick Bridge (1873) 164 meters long - for that era the construction was grandiose:
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The current Kuldiga stands entirely on the left bank, that is, relative to Riga - "beyond the Venta", and you enter the city via this bridge ... only now not on a wagon, but on a car.
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The house with a tower in Kuldiga is not the only one of its kind, and the wooden house may have belonged to the bridge keeper:
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The vent here is really very small, but wide enough:
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And from the bridge you can see the Venta waterfall (Ventas-Rumba) - one of the main attractions of Kuldiga, which is proudly called "the widest waterfall in Europe". The width really varies from 110 to 270 meters depending on the water in the river. In principle, this is not so small - the smaller of the two Niagara Falls, for example, has a width of 320 meters (the larger one, however, is more than 700) .... but the height of the Ventska Rumba let us down, God forbid, if a couple of meters:
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In fact, this is not even a waterfall, but a threshold, and there is a hypothesis that it is man-made - the Teutons mined the stone for the Goldingen Castle from the bottom of Venta. There is also a version that the characteristic "baths" were knocked out under Jacob to catch fish going to spawn. According to another version, these are just baths, or maybe natural landforms.
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In any case, it's beautiful here, and beauty is quite appropriate in the Baltics - northern, discreet. You can safely walk over the waterfall, and people run naked through it (according to another version, across the bridge) like Ivanov's Night.
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The beach on the right bank operates all summer, and this is perhaps the most capital river beach that I have seen - even with an observation tower (in case someone does come up from the waterfall, apparently). In general, it was very pleasant to wander ankle-deep in water along the very edge of the threshold, especially after a hot day on the road:
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The Venta Valley here is generally rich in beauty - 4 kilometers from the city there are also caves (or rather, quarries) Riežupe, while ennobled and accessible to everyone, but we didn’t go there.
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And on the high left bank, the very place would be the Livonian castle, which, judging by the old engravings and descriptions on the website of Renata Rimsh, was not inferior and ... but no - like many other Courland castles, Goldingen was destroyed in the Northern War and finally dismantled in 19 century. Only this mound survived, piled over a tiny remnant of the wall:
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Yes - indirectly - the caretaker's house (1735), whose duties included looking after the ruins of the castle so that they would not be taken to the stone. Vohra of the 18th century, I think, was even dumber and more aggressive than the current one, and besides, there was a place of executions nearby, so this building is also known among the people as the "executioner's house":
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Basically, there is a park on the site of the castle, which allows you to appreciate its huge size. Zamkovaya Street, in fact the upper embankment, is a local promenade with a vernissage, souvenir stalls and just such a gazebo where they sell all sorts of pretzel pies:
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There are many sculptures in the park:
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And the most memorable house, although in appearance simply utterly Courland, was actually part of the Russian pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900) ... perhaps it represented the Ostsee region or the Courland province. There is a legend that a local merchant bought it to impress either his friends or his beloved. Now here is the local history museum:
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What is to be envied in the Baltics is the state of the parks, but in Kuldiga they are wonderful even by the Baltic standards:
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And at least the ramparts along the edges remained from the castle - here is a view from them to the city blocks:
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On the other side of the bridge there is a castle mill on the river Aleksupe... which falls into Venta with its small waterfall, alas, completely hidden by vegetation:
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By itself, this mill is the same age as the castle, and initially flour was ground here for the fortress. Under the Kettlers, the mill served as a gunpowder factory, and in 1820-38 as a paper spinning mill. The current building and the dam were built in 1805-07 ... only the pond turned out to be lowered:
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And the covering of the dam was dismantled for repair, and it was possible to climb through only along the parapet with the risk of screwing up. By that time, I was so tired of the toy towns of Courland that I really wanted to do something anti-social, defiant, anarchic and "like in Russia", so, contrary to the ban, I climbed in there and took a couple of shots:
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Nearby is St. Catherine's Church, known since 1252. It went down in history by the fact that Duke Jacob was baptized here, under which Courland flourished and almost turned into a colonial empire, briefly taking possession of the island of Tobago in the Caribbean and the mouth of the Gambia in Africa (). Let me remind you how it turned out that Goldingen did not become the capital of the duchy: the first duke and former last master Gotthard Kettler died, his eldest son Friedrich received Semigallia with Mitava, and the younger Wilhelm - Courland with Goldingen, and formally they were equal. However, Wilhelm quarreled first with his barons, and then with the Polish king, and was deposed: Frederick remained the only ruler, and Mitau - the only capital. But Jakob Ketler was the son of Wilhelm, and the last Kettlers loved and improved Goldingen as their family home. Kirkha, however, did not find Jacob's baptism - the current building was built in 1665, the interiors have been preserved from the same time ... and the exterior and tower - 1866:
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Kuldiga is not a city of sights, but an environment that is extremely integral, very Courland in spirit and very comfortable. As I understand it, most of its buildings are still of the 19th century, when Goldingen turned into an ordinary county town of the Courland province. However, with a population of 8.6 thousand people (1897) in the province, it remained the third after the 100,000th port of Libau and the 30,000th provincial Mitava.
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People's House (1909), more like a factory with attached barracks for workers:
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Kuldiga courtyards:
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All this is pierced by the same river Aleksupe, which forms, as it were, a narrow street, for which, of course, Kuldiga is called the "Latvian Venice":
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In general, these streets we reached the Town Hall Square, which is opened by the local hotel "Metropol" (in Art Nouveau style) and the "drug Jacob's pharmacy" of the 17th century opposite it - a real old German half-timbered house (most of the half-timbered buildings of the Baltic states, including the Königsberg region, are still younger than the years one hundred to two hundred):
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Perspective of the Town Hall Square. Liepajas (Libavska) street - pedestrian and main street in Old Goldingen - goes to the right. Surprisingly, the buildings of the main square are mostly wooden. The most noticeable is the New Town Hall (1874), used for its intended purpose - that is, as a city administration:
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But much more interesting is the more modest Old Town Hall from the time of Duke Jacob. A wooden house of the 17th century is a rare phenomenon in Russia too ... but in Courland, such monuments are one of the "chips": in Kuldiga, Liepaja, and maybe somewhere else, a dozen wooden buildings of that time have been preserved. True, these are mostly banal barns, so the Kuldīga Town Hall is unique here too:
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I saw an open door, looked in - and found myself in a weaving workshop. There were also Lielvard belts (with white and red ornaments), and suit shawls (colorful geometric) - albeit modern stylizations, but still they at least partially compensated for the museums I had not seen in and.
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They are not only sold here, but also made. Weaving in the former town hall - the old mercantilist Jakob Kettler would approve!
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New Town Hall, rear view:
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There are two old churches in Kuldiga, but the Trinity Church (1640) stands near the Town Hall Square, most likely, as in Mitau, built at the behest of Poland, to which the Duchy of Courland was a vassal. Very interesting cross-weather vane - I have not seen these before:
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Then Valery and I (and she brought me to Kuldiga renatar during the South Courland trip, just after Alsunga and Edole) we headed along Libavskaya - this street is now pedestrian and, with its toy, leaves behind everything that I saw in Courland before.
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At the beginning, across the house from the Town Hall Square - another barn of the 17th century, now occupied by a cafe (they didn’t think to go inside). Nearby is the "boot of Charles XII" - another one is in the village of Virga, where Renata also brought me. They say that in one of the Kuldiga houses, a chest of the Swedish king was preserved embedded in the wall, which he allegedly left for storage to the owner when he retreated, and the owner, as a true law-abiding German, not only did not open the chest, but also built it into the wall out of harm's way - it seems to be "the same" door on frame #28.
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View from the side lane to the most impressive building of the "royal" era in Kuldiga on Libavskaya:
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The wooden house next to it is also good. That's interesting: were the fake windows really thought about, or did he just lose the floor?
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Am I so spoiled, or is the mushroom and fruits really lying strangely?
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Another view from the alley, or rather from a parallel street - Libavskaya ahead:
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Here are a couple more houses... Alas, I am not strong enough in Northern European architecture to distinguish the authentic 17th century from stylization. Still styling:
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The synagogue is visible on the right:
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About the "smokers", local Jews, I already wrote in a post. The Jewish community here was no less than in Lithuania, but at the same time, the Courland province was not included in the "Pale of Settlement", so the local Jews were "white bones" and even spoke more German than Yiddish. The largest synagogues have been preserved in Sabile and here. The Goldingen synagogue (1875) under the Soviets was the cinema "Kurzeme", and now it has a library:
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Building is becoming easier, but livability remains:
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The glass pedestal in the middle is a micro-museum of the Vulkan match factory, founded in 1878 and the former largest enterprise of its kind in the Ostsee region. The factory survived the 20th century, but burned down in 2002, and its restoration, apparently, was considered inappropriate. Its hulls have been preserved, but I didn’t get to them and I don’t know where they are at all.
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In the next courtyard - another scattering of sculptures and installations, this time wooden:
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And a simple, but not quite banal Orthodox Church of the Intercession (1871):
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The old part of Kuldiga is stretched along the same road from Livonia to Prussia: from the bridge to the square and further along Libavskaya, from which the historical building diverges by only 2-3 blocks. Now, on the neighboring Mucenieku street, the views are not at all ceremonial - let's say a distillery (1867) with an archaic square pipe:
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And the largest church of St. Anne in Kuldiga (1902), whose tower is visible from afar. But up close, especially if the gates are closed, you won’t see anything but the tower:
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Finally, I need to say something conceptual, but what can I say in general? Tiled sidewalks, well-groomed lawns, rickety woodsheds, above all this an old tower - such is the collective image of the Baltics.
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From Kuldiga about 70 kilometers to the main cities of Kurzeme - port Liepaja and Ventspils, and 30 kilometers to the sea in a straight line. But before starting a long story about Liepaja, let's get to it through the southern part of Courland: Embute, Priekule, Virga, Grobina.
Once the small town of Kuldiga was a large Livonian castle. This is confirmed by archaeological finds that point to the early settlements of the Curonians. Today the city is a beautiful provincial settlement, very interesting for tourists.
Kuldiga - description
It attracts tourists with such places as a real oil well, one of the cleanest lakes, as well as plantations of mushrooms and medicinal herbs. Walking around the city, you can also get a lot of impressions, because here you can see stunning tiled roofs, medieval street layout and the Alekshupite river winding among them. Guests who are going to visit this city should take into account that the weather in Kuldiga in winter is much worse than in summer.
Kuldiga – natural sights
The city of Kuldiga, Latvia, is located on the left bank of the Venta River, which is quite wide. The main area is the Ventas Rumba waterfall, which is considered the widest in Europe. It stretched for 149 m, almost the entire width of the river.
To witness the flying fish, you should come to the waterfall in late April and early May. This is due to the fact that the fish goes to spawn along the river, and it has to jump over the threshold. You can determine that the tourist season has already begun by the national holiday "Fish - flies!".
Architectural and cultural monuments of the city
The city has architectural monuments of historical and cultural value. Having examined Kuldiga in the photo, you can get acquainted with unique objects, but it would be better to see them with your own eyes. The most notable sights include the following:
Where to stay in Kuldiga?
There are many hotels in Kuldiga, both expensive and fashionable, as well as budget ones, so any tourist will be able to choose an option to his taste and budget. Some of the most popular hotels include:
Where to eat in Kuldiga?
There are many cafes and restaurants in the city of Kuldiga, where travelers will be offered to taste both traditional dishes typical of European cuisine and those containing their own special piquancy. Among the most famous institutions of Kuldiga are the following:
- Goldingen Room- Offers European cuisine, delicious Italian pizza is prepared here. The restaurant is suitable for vegetarians.
- Pagrabins– a restaurant serving European and Latvian cuisine, vegetarian dishes can also be ordered here.
- Metropole Restaurant- always receives rave reviews from tourists, it is described as a great place for a romantic dinner, it serves international and Latvian cuisine.
- Stenders- a unique restaurant in the city center, memorable for delicious food and a cozy atmosphere.
How to get there?
Kuldiga (Goldingen)
We are going to the city of Kuldiga, whose history is connected with the duchy with the beautiful and romantic name Courland and Semegalia, which once existed in the western part of modern Latvia. The duchy existed for two hundred and thirty years and three years, until it became, after the third partition of the Commonwealth, the Courland province within the Russian Empire. This happened in 1795 and continued until November 18, 1918, when an independent Latvian Republic was proclaimed at the Riga National Theater, which included Courland. The duchy itself was formed in 1562 during the collapse of the Livonian Order, whose landmaster was Gotthard Kettler. Both Kettler himself and the entire upper class of the duchy were Baltic Germans. The main population is Latvian peasants. It is believed that the Latvian nation was finally formed only by the 17th century on the basis of the merger of such nationalities as the Curonians, villages, Latgalians and Semigallians and the assimilation of the Livs. Here the main people were the Curonians. Hence Courland.
So, after the collapse of the Livonian Order, Kettler managed to retain Courland, which was proclaimed a duchy and Gotthard Kettler became its first duke - the founder of the Kettler dynasty. It should be noted that the duchy was never completely independent, and the dukes, fearing powerful neighbors, including Russia, recognized themselves as vassals of either the Grand Duchy of Lithuania or the Commonwealth, that is, they were under their protection. After Kettler was expelled from Riga (either by the Poles or by the Lithuanians), he moved to Goldingen (that was the name of Kuldiga) and Mitava (modern Jelgava). The Kettlers ruled in Courland until 1711, when they were replaced by the Birons. Well, the “Bironshchina” is a separate topic, and I won’t write about it, especially since we didn’t get to Mitava. But it’s worth telling about the famous grandson of the first duke, Jacob Kettler, because Courland has never flourished like it did under Duke Jacob. Yes, that's what they call the duke in Latvia - Jacob. And I will.
Duke Jacob
Jacob took over the duchy in 1642 and ruled for exactly 40 years until his death in 1682.
In 2010, a very interesting monument called “Teleportation” was unveiled to Duke Jacob on the 400th anniversary of the now medieval pedestrian Kuldiga Street.
Not only did Jacob become the most influential and wealthy of all the surrounding German dukes, but the duchy itself became rich and influential, trading not only with its closest neighbors Russia, Lithuania, but also with England, France, the Netherlands, Portugal ... Courland ships built at their own shipyards, the Vindavas plowed the oceans, got to the West Indies. The Courland fleet was superior to the French fleet !!! Duke Jacob bought the islands and resettled the Courlanders there, giving them freedom. The famous island of Tobago also belonged to Courland. They called it then New Courland! Cool, right? And the bay was Jacob and…. And then the overseas neighbor came with the First Northern War. In 1658, the Swedes captured Jacob and kept the poor fellow in Riga for two years, while other "European partners", such as the Dutch, picked up everything that was bad, including the duke's overseas possessions. The war destroyed all the works of the duke. The partners in the current European Union immediately began to fuss. The Swedes and the French have captured most of the fleet, the Dutch and the British are in charge of the colonies. Europe, in a word!
However, after the conclusion of the Oliwa peace, when the Polish king Jan II Casimir, whose vassal was Duke Jacob, renounced his claims to the Swedish throne, Jacob was released by the Swedes. He was a restless man and again zealously set to work, but he was no longer able to achieve his former heyday. On the son of Jacob, nature had a nice rest, and without any Swedes and Dutch, he brought the duchy to ..., in short, brought it.
Here is an interesting place our friends brought us to. I will add that in addition to Kuldiga there were other cities in the duchy. These are Libava (Liepaja), and Mittava (Jelgava) and Vindava (Ventspils), but only, perhaps, Kuldiga has retained some unique spirit of the Middle Ages. And now about what we saw here and about what, unfortunately, no one will be able to see. I have often thought about the correlation of creative and destructive forces in our world. Probably, there are still more creative ones, since we still do not live in the desert, but how absurd and insulting it is when something that has been created by people for decades and could remain a masterpiece for centuries and delight the eyes of descendants is overthrown, destroyed, barbarously ruined … Specifically, now I am talking about the Kuldiga Castle, which was built by the master of the Livonian Order Dietrich von Groningen in 1242-1245. At first the castle had the name "Castle of Jesus" (Jesusburg), and later - Goldingen. And in the Curonian language (namely, the Curonians lived in these lands in those ancient times), it sounded like “Kuldinga” or “Guldinga”. It is clear that from Goldingen to Kuldiga is within easy reach. Well, there's practically nothing left of the castle, not even blueprints.
Reconstruction of the castle (photo from the Kuldīga Museum)
There is only a reconstruction of the castle - it was beautiful and majestic, I guess. And he stood in a beautiful and correct place, on the high bank of the Venta River. And the crusaders gathered here and went straight from the castle to conquer the lands of the future Latvians living in these parts - the Curonians. Centuries passed, and the castle stood and stood. The famous Duke Jacob was born in it in 1610. Although Mitava was already the capital of the duchy, the Kettlers called Kuldiga “the old, dear ancestral city”.
Jacob was also baptized here, in the Lutheran church of St. Catherine, to which the road leads from the bridge near the mill pond.
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Dam on the mill pond
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mill pond
The Lutheran church of St. Catherine was built of wood during the Livonian Order in 1252, and the current stone church was built much later - in 1662. Then it was rebuilt again - in the 19th century.
St. Catherine's Lutheran Church
The legend says that the pious maiden Katerina, who collected money for the construction of the church, was executed for her connection with the unclean. After her death, she was acquitted and declared a saint, and a church was built in her honor. On the current coat of arms of the city of Kuldiga, she is depicted with a crown of thorns on her head, a wheel and a sword in her hands.
Photos of St. Catherine
During the Polish-Swedish war in 1658, Jacob, although he was a vassal of the Commonwealth, tried to remain neutral. The Swedes, having broken their promise not to touch anyone or anything, after the surrender of the garrison, the castle was ruined. In less than a year, the castle was taken again and robbed to the fullest - they took out everything that was possible. But the Poles have already done it. Jacob, who returned from Swedish captivity, put the castle in order and even lived there for some time. But in 1701, already under Ferdinand, the son of Jacob, the Swedes again plundered and destroyed the castle. And even the worst enemy of Peter the Great, the Swedish king Charles XII, having arrived in Kuldiga, was forced to stay not in the castle devastated by his army, but in a private house.
Remains of the castle
What now can remind you of the existence of the castle? Perhaps the watchman's house, built from the stones of the ruined castle in 1735.
Watchman's house
Here is a memorial plaque on this house.
Photo of the board on the watchman's house
Sometimes this house is called the house of the gatekeeper, sometimes the executioner. In fact, not only this house, but also most of the old stone houses of Kuldiga were built from the stones of the ruined castle.
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Waterfall Ventas Rumba
Always and everywhere a person is looking for the very best and is proud of this very very thing. Sometimes they are proud of what nature has created, and sometimes, in order to have something to be proud of, this is the very thing, people create themselves. In Moscow, for example, the tallest skyscraper in Europe is the Federation Tower, 374 meters high. But the Ventas Rumba waterfall in Kuldiga is the widest waterfall in Europe! It is the record holder in terms of width - 249 meters, and small in height - only 1.6-2.4 m. On the way from the parking lot to the waterfall, we see a stand on which information about the waterfall is presented in Russian.
Stand photo
This place is popular - the parking lot is full. The people are swimming. The water of Venta, unlike the Baltic Sea, is warm.
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Did you know that salmon is also found in the Baltic Sea? It is called so - Baltic salmon or noble salmon. But the most popular name for Baltic salmon is salmon. Yes, yes, it's the same! Like the Pacific relatives, the salmon spends most of its life in the sea, but for spawning it comes to the mouths of the rivers. Including to Venta, on the banks of which Kuldiga is located. The power of salmon is great. During spawning, she can jump out of the water to a height of up to four meters. Therefore, the Ventas Rumba waterfall is not a problem for salmon. I don’t know how it is in Latvia, but in Russia, in the Kaliningrad region, salmon fishing is prohibited not only during spawning, but also in the sea. But in Kuldiga, during the time of Duke Jacob, the peasants were engaged in pure poaching. Stupid fish, going to spawn in the call of their ancestors in the upper reaches of the Venta and overcoming all conceivable and inconceivable obstacles for this, were caught with the help of the so-called stabs installed in front of the waterfall, into which, like in a basketball basket, the salmon jumping over the rapids fell. They say that even now she sometimes jumps, but for a long time she has not been caught in such a clever, but barbaric way.
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View of the waterfall from the steep bank of Venta
On the opposite steep bank of the Venta, where the impregnable walls of the castle once towered, I notice an interesting building among the lush greenery.
Villa Bangert
This is a city museum, which probably has a lot of interesting things, but due to lack of time (we still had to go to Ventspils), we did not go to the museum, but a few words should be said about the building itself. It was built in 1900. Rather, it was not built, but dismantled and moved here from distant Paris, where it was an exhibit of Russia at the Paris World Exhibition. The exhibition ended, and according to some sources, the building was bought by a Liepaja shipowner, according to others, by a sailor from Kuldiga. As you understand, there is no sea in Kuldiga, and most likely, this is the first, but comes from the second. Even his last name is known - Bangert, a Baltic German. Bangert bought and moved this building as a wedding present for his beloved - a beautiful gesture, right? They say that they lived happily for forty years, but with the advent of Soviet power here, many Baltic Germans left their homes and left Nazi Germany at that time. The departure of the Baltic Germans is well described by Vadim Kozhevnikov in his famous novel The Shield and the Sword. Johann Weiss, wonderfully played by the young Stanislav Lyubshin in the film of the same name, was also a Baltic German. Then the Bangerts also left for Germany, having sold their famous house to the city, whose authorities organized a museum there. And it is right! And now, not far from the museum, there is a restaurant called Restaurant BANGERT'S.
We had lunch (everything is very beautiful and tasty) in another restaurant, on an open veranda built right above the Alekšupīte river. The waitress, a young pretty friendly girl - not a word in Russian. And what do you want - we have been living in different countries for 24 years.
In a restaurant above Alekshupite
The foundations of the houses are the banks of the river, which is why Kuldīga is called the “Venice of Kurzeme”. Loud, of course, but it sounds beautiful. In the spring, they say, Alekshupite becomes a seething and roaring river, reaching almost to the windows of the first floors of buildings.
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Kuldiga Venice
In the 60s of the century before last, the remains of the castle walls and buildings, by order of the city authorities, began to be dismantled, while the number of stone houses in the city began to grow at the same rate.
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A wonderful park appeared on the site of the castle.
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Later, fountains appeared, park sculptures were installed. The author is Livia Rezevskas.
Museum (former Bangert Villa)
The sculpture is called "Love"
On the banks of the Venta, in the area of the former castle, just downstream from the Ventas Rumba waterfall, there is a beautiful brick arched bridge. And again there is a combination of "most-most". Indeed, it is the longest existing brick bridge in Europe. It's brick. Surprisingly similar to the ancient Roman bridge in the German city of Trier across the Moselle River. Look here.
Bridge over the Moselle in Trier
Trier was once the second capital of the Roman Empire (Roma secunda), and the brick bridge on basalt pillars was built in the 4th century. It still operates today, despite the fact that it was blown up by the French in the 17th century. The fate of his young brother, the bridge across the Venta, is similar. The Kuldīga bridge built in 1874 was blown up in 1915 during the First World War. And also two spans. The restored bridge was badly damaged again after another ten years and rebuilt again a year later. But during the Second World War, the bridge, oddly enough, was not damaged, not so long ago it was restored and now it is just a handsome man!
Useful information for tourists about Kuldiga in Latvia - geographical location, tourist infrastructure, map, architectural features and attractions.
Kuldiga is a city located in the historical region of Kurzeme on the banks of the Venta River, about 150 km from Riga. At different times the city was called differently: Goldingen, Jesusburg. In the annals, Kuldiga was first mentioned in 1242, when the Livonian Order began to build a stone fortress next to the river. In 1368, Kuldiga became part of the Hanseatic League.
This city was the first in Kurzeme to receive the status of a city. In the period from 1596 to 1616. Kuldiga was the capital of the Duchy of Courland. During the reign of Duke Jacob Kuldiga was on the wave of prosperity. Ships were actively built here, manufactories worked, and trade flourished.
The modern city of Kuldiga is one of the most picturesque and beautiful cities in Latvia. The layout of the streets is typical of a medieval town. A large number of films about Western Europe and the Middle Ages were filmed in Kuldiga. The city managed to avoid global destruction during various wars and fires. The original architecture of the 16th-17th centuries has been preserved here.
One of the most significant and famous sights of Kuldiga is the widest waterfall in Europe, Ventas Rumba, located on the Venta River. At the same time, its height is only 2 meters, the highest point reaches 2 meters 20 cm. Moreover, the height may vary slightly depending on the season. This waterfall is a wonderful summer attraction: swimming under the waterfall.
You can admire the waterfall from the window of the Kuldiga Museum. It is located nearby, on the banks of the Venta. The locals call this house the Bangert Villa. According to legend, that was the name of the captain who bought this house as a gift for his bride. Initially, this house was a pavilion at the World Exhibition held in Paris. So the Liepaja captain dismantled it and transported it to Kuldiga. The museum houses a famous collection of playing cards.
Also noteworthy is the old brick bridge passing through Vent, built in 1874. This bridge was built according to ancient Roman models, the bridge is the longest of the existing brick bridges in Europe.
You can admire the view of the city with its tiled roofs from the observation deck of the Church of St. Catherine.
Karl Davydov was born and lived in Kuldiga, who became an outstanding cellist, who was also a teacher and composer. Davydov worked for a long time as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In memory of this man, international competitions for young cellists are held in Kuldiga, in which musicians from different countries participate.
Every year in Kuldīga, a city festival is held, festive events last almost a whole week. During this time, various concerts, children's parties are held, free discos in nature are organized. And, of course, the celebration of the city is not complete without fairs with the participation of craftsmen.
