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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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Let's go inside!

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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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...

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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

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Tak už jsem měl čas si to i přečíst :) Jak na muzea obecně moc nejsem, tak tohle bych si teda určitě nenechal ujít! Už jen kvůli té unikátní lokalitě. Obejít všechny ty "exponáty" se v tomto případě rovná regulérní lesní túře! Neskutečné. Ten areál vypadá tak obrovský, že snad ani není oplocený, ne? Takže se tam může klidně zatoulat i nějaký "neplatící" houbař nebo myslivec :D Ty dřevěné stavby vypadají úžasně, úplně cítím, jak to v nich muselo vonět... Já byl u nás ve skanzenu asi jen v Rožnově pod Radhoštěm a to hodně dávno, jako malé děcko, takže si to ani moc nepamatuju, ale teď jak to vidím, bych hned nějaký navštívil :) Miluju staré dřevěné stavby...

Btw tvůj manžel opět nezklamal, to zametání vzal podle toho soustředěného výrazu opravdu poctivě :D

@tipu curate 5

Ja zbožnujem skanzeny. U nás ich je veľa a vždy keď nám to vyjde, tak sa ideme pozrieť. Najlepšie na tom je, že tí zamestnanci sa tam starajú o domy a o záhrady, takže to vytvára pocit ako by to bolo naozaj 🙂 To by si teda mal nejaký navštíviť, určite si to užiješ.

Na jednej strane je jazero, na druhej strane cesta a na koniec lesa sme sa nedostali, keďže už bolo neskoro, tak neviem presne, či je to oplotené, ale je celkom možné, že máš pravdu a môže sa tam dostať každý 🙂

Celé im to tam vyčistil 😁

Ďakujem pekne za podporu a prajem krásne popoludnie 🙂

So many great shots and the place in itself is quite magical. I really love the cleanliness and the countryside vibes felt there.

Thank you for stopping by!

I find these wooden homes and structures so satisfying to look at. Being surrounded by trees makes it look so calm and peaceful. It would be nice to have a few days vacation there to just unwind and relax. Thanks for sharing.

Indeed, I enjoy being in forest, and I'm sure that you would enjoy this place too! 🙂

What a beauty, I am captivated. I love the sequence of the post. The most amazing thing for me was how you counted each moment in the houses. I liked the yellow one.

Seeing a windmill and thinking of the Netherlands is something peculiar, but very true. I had not seen the locomobile before. I learned something new today. 🍫

I'm glad that you enjoyed my post 🙂

Yes, every day is a school day 😉

Very interesting. I love the painted ceiling in the first church and the bright yellow house. I think your husband was doing the museum's children coloring page 🤣

He wasn't 🙂 It was the museum map and we decided to mark each house, so that we can follow some logic because it was too big just to walk aroun..

This place is amazing! A lot of things can be seen here which speaks about their culture.

I find that weave hanging shoes very cute. Thanks for sharing this great place.

I find them cute too 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!

Beautiful architecture. Lovely religious buildings. That square wind mill is remarkable too. Cozy interiors. Awful shoes. 😁

As I understand they brought old buildings in the museum, this is why everything looks so authentic.

😁 Those shoes are probably not the most comfortable..

Yes, they dismantle houses in the original location, move them to the museum and assemble them again. I understand that it should be fairly simple as they didn't use nails in the past, apparently it's sort of a lego situation 😂

Wow, what a fascinating trip!😮 I love how you captured the diversity and richness of Latvian culture and history. 🇱🇻 The open-air museum looks amazing and I would love to visit it someday🤩. Thank you for sharing your experience and photos with us🙏 Safe travels🚗

Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words! 🙂

I really enjoyed perusing your post, I had the opportunity to see a spectacular place.
The pictures are amazing, very captivating and explicit.
And here in Romania we have such open-air museums, very similar to the one you presented.
Thank you for sharing such an amazing place with us.

We also have many of them in Slovakia. Oh, in fact, I have visited the one in Bucharest about 8 years ago. I also bought some ceramic plates there which I'm still using 🙂

Thank you for your kind words and I wish you a very nice day!

Thank you very much @delishtreats, glad to hear you have more such places in Slovakia, also glad you managed to visit ,,National Village Museum "Dimitrie Gusti" in Bucharest.

Oh, thank you for the name 🙂 It's been such a long time ago and of course I forgot..

You're welcome!

That is a very cool spot. The painted ceiling In that church is incredible. I love the quaint little cottages. They look so cozy

I was surprised to see such ceiling there as it looks rather simple from outside..

Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

This took me back many years ago when I visited. I was waiting to see the picture of that little baby's bed. It was among the cutest details I saw there. Great food too!

Little baby's bed? Hmmm, I don't recall seeing it 🙂 Now, I have to go back! 😉

I had to dig really deep but I found it!
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Oh, I don't recall seeing it, but there were so many things to see there that I might have missed it...

Thank you for looking for that photo 🙂 I see it was 15 years ago, so I'm surprised that you even found it 😉

Haha I am well organised. Time flies though...

Hi Martina :) This place looks great, I had never heard of an open air museum. Everything looks so beautiful and well kept, it almost looks like a ghost town but without the scary part. The houses look like the ones in the stories, cozy and made of wood, surely you could spend the winter perfectly next to those chimneys.

2 euros per person seems like a fairly affordable price to visit this beautiful place. You saw a lot despite the fact that the property is quite large, I'm happy for you.

I hope you have enjoyed your trip. Greetings, have a great day ❣️.

Hello 🙂 Open air museums are fairly common in Europe. It's simply a museum which is outside. Old houses are dismantled and moved to a museum location where they are assembled again, so it creates a village feeling.

Yes, yes, Latvia is not an expensive country 🙂 I would say that we saw most of the museum, so I'm happy too 😉

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day too!

Ahhh I thought that this was already a town originally... Some time ago I visited the ruins of a religious town in Misiones, in the north of Argentina and although they were ruins, there were also some houses like these that were built there several years ago, there were even a chapel. It was interesting :)

Happy day for you too!

Open air museums are spectacular! I have seen this style of museum before and love them. I love the forest surrounding the museum! In my country the forests are different but I love the ones with pine trees. The little houses are so beautiful! It must have been a wonderful day.

I love open air museums too. I have visited many of them before but none of them was as big as this one. We had a wonderful day 😉

Thank you for stopping by!

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beautiful picture view of the place.

Oh wow what a beautiful trip surrounded by nature 🥰

Wow what a serene environment. I would be happy living all my life in a house like any of those houses. So charming. The wooden buildings and the windmill are very cool.

I really enjoyed that tour. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy your travels!

Me too, I would love living in such house although I think it wouldn't be easy..

Amazing post! Love it!

Thank you Awildo! And good luck with your meet up. Unfortunately, I won't be able to come this time..

Don't worry, we will have more opportunities to meet up✌️!

What a beautifully preserved place. I can imagine living there in days gone by. It was a wonderful tour!

Lovely and beautiful pictures, lots of nature which I love and the rustic buildings are beautiful. Thank you very much @delishtreats ❤️

I'm glad you liked it 😉

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Incredible😍, beautiful landscapes and well elaborated constructions preserved in time. What I liked the most were the windmills ❤️

That's a great museum to have a good time. It's similar to Skansen in Stockholm but this looks more real or less staged. I guess authentic is the correct word. Saludos!!

Skanzen is actually a Slovak word for open air museum 🙂

I haven't been to Stockholm yet, but I will make sure to visit that museum if I would get there and compare 😉

Thank you for stopping by!

You are very sure that you have a chance to be in such a beautiful place the way we see how lovely the place is green everywhere and people love it so much. If I get a chance in my life, I will definitely visit this place with my family because after seeing the pictures, my heart is very happy because this place is very beautiful and clean. Thanks for sharing with us.

It's nice to see a museum like this, neatly arranged, that's because it's still very well cared for.

Everything is looking so peaceful and I have observed the greenery is in abundance there. The different cultures in one museum is really a nice thing because in this way we can get a know how and we can compare and see the values of tradition, culture and customs.

We want to look forward to the next post with you

About the photos and comfort in this place is very amazing I love the breeze gusts chirping birds complete already enjoyment that nature there