The Latvian resort of Liepaja is called “the city where the wind is born”. The constant sea breeze, mixing with the pine aromas of the Jurmalas park, laid out on the very shore, creates a unique microclimate. Rest in Liepaja is suitable exclusively for everyone - both children and old people, and tourists who prefer high-class comfort and service. Liepaja can boast of the cleanest beach, marked with the Blue Flag certificate, and old streets, along which, as before, fans of rest in the restrained Baltic style stroll in the evenings. If you consider yourself to be an active part of the tourist brotherhood, you will always find something to see in Liepaja. The townspeople managed to preserve ancient architectural monuments and open several museum expositions - informative and fascinating.
TOP-10 sights of Liepaja
St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral
The main Orthodox church in Liepaja was founded at the turn of the century in 1900. It was built by the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire. The main patron of the arts who donated funds for the construction of the cathedral was Nicholas II. The Russian emperor laid the first stone in the foundation and inaugurated the temple in 1903.
The work was supervised by the famous architect V. A. Kosyakov, the author of the project of the Naval Nikolsky Cathedral in Kronstadt. The interiors were designed by the artist Railean, according to whose sketch the carpet for the grand staircase was woven and the temple altars were decorated.
During the First and then the Second World Wars, the cathedral was literally plundered. The iconostasis was transported to Riga and installed there in the cathedral church, the bells were removed and destroyed. After 1945, a sailors' club was located in the temple. The believers managed to return the church only in the 80s. last century.
In the cathedral, noteworthy is the altar, consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker, who is considered the patron saint of sailors, pediments decorated with inscriptions from the Holy Scriptures, and a gold mosaic.
Liepaja castle
One of the famous landmarks of the city, Liepaja Castle was built at the end of the 19th century. by order of Emperor Alexander III. The construction project had no analogues in Europe at that time, and according to the plan, a military town, powder depots, bunkers and even its own railway line were to appear on the territory of the fortress.
The northern fort of Korosty, as the Liepaja fortress is called, lost its relevance soon after its construction. Already in 1908, the citadel was abandoned, and its construction was called a strategic mistake of the tsarist government.
Today, only a few surviving buildings are available to tourists. During a tour of the Liepaja castle, you can look at the North, South, East and Middle forts.
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
The Church of the Holy Trinity in Liepaja has the status of an Orthodox cathedral. It was consecrated in 1758 after fifteen years of construction. The peculiarity of the temple is that for all the time of its existence, it practically did not undergo any alterations and reconstructions, and therefore appears before the guests of the city in its original form.
The church is built in the late Baroque style with elements of classicism. Its appearance is dominated by a magnificent external design with a certain amount of pomp and picturesque interiors, built on a skillful play of light and shadows.
The organ of the cathedral deserves special attention:
- The musical instrument was created in 1779 by the world-class master Heinrich Andreas Konzius.
- In 1885 the organ was enlarged and since then it has 131 registers.
- Until 1912, he held the title of the largest in the world.
- All 7000 pipes made and installed by Kontius still sound, and the Liepaja organ is considered the largest on the planet among mechanical instruments of this class, which have never been reconstructed since its inception. The organ is still operated without the use of electronics or pneumatics.
The bell tower of the Holy Trinity Church is equipped with an observation deck. Beautiful panoramas of Liepaja open from the 55-meter height.
St. Anne's Lutheran Church
The Evangelical Church of St. Anne is the oldest church in the city. The first mentions of it are contained in documents from the beginning of the 16th century.
The building was built in compliance with the Prussian architectural traditions, and the interior decoration was made in accordance with the baroque techniques adopted in those years. The altar carved by the master cabinetmaker Nicholas Sefrrens is called the masterpiece of the temple. The altar is ten meters high and six meters wide. The organ of the Church of St. Anne is no less famous. The composer Alfred Kalninsh worked on the project of the musical instrument. The organ ranks third in the country in terms of size and number of pipes and registers.
Museum of History and Art
In 1901, a mansion was built in Liepaja, which today attracts visitors no less than the museum exposition located in it. The house is decorated with carved pine elements, fireplaces made of stone, and colored stained-glass windows in the window frames. The sketches of the future building were made by the architect from Berlin Ernest von Ine.
In 1924 the mansion took over the collection of a new museum dedicated to the history and art of the region in which Liepaja is located. The collection of exhibits was carried out by two city public organizations - the Society of Antiquities created by German residents and the Latvian Society. In total, the collection of the museum today includes more than 100 thousand items.
One of the halls of the mansion is dedicated to the life and work of the woodcarver Mikelis Pankoks. It was he who decorated the mansion, and the railings of the stairs, entrance doors and decorative elements of the interior were made by the chisel of the famous artist from Liepaja.
Grobin Castle
The ruins of a castle built in the middle of the 13th century are preserved in the town of Grobia 11 km east of Liepaja. the order of the Livonian knights. The walls and bastions were erected under the direction of the Master of the Order of Dietrich from Groningen.
Ten years after its construction, the castle was burnt down and subsequently rebuilt several times and again fell into disrepair. Since the 18th century, when the city of Grobina fell into the possession of the Dukes of Courland, the fortress was completely abandoned.
During its existence, the castle has changed more than a dozen owners and everyone tried to remake it in their own way. The fortress was also famous for the fact that birds for falconry were raised there. The falcons from the Grobinsky castle were famous in Europe and were sold to members of the royal families in different countries.
Theatre of Drama
The Liepaja theater was founded in 1906 and is the oldest in the republic. The idea of creating a temple of art belonged to the members of the Latvian Drama Society, and the members of the new troupe chose "Uncle Vanya" by A. Chekhov as the first performance. Before the outbreak of the First World War, Russian classics and musical plays were staged at the Liepaja Theater.
After the war, the troupe teamed up with the members of the Liepāja Opera and moved to a new building, more in line with the requirements of the time. In the middle of the twentieth century. opera singers left the theater and joined their colleagues in Riga, and now only dramatic works are staged at the Liepaja Theater.
Museum "Karosta Prison"
An old red brick building in Liepaja is a curious and a little creepy place. The Karosta Prison Museum, the only one of its kind in the Old World, has been opened in the premises of the former guardhouse. Visitors who come on an excursion can not only look at the life of prisoners in old Liepaja, but also experience all the delights of imprisonment in any of the last few political regimes.
Guests are invited to take part in the interactive game "Escape from the USSR", try themselves in the show "Behind Bars", try to get out of the plan in the attraction "Labyrinth of Sensations" and even spend the night in a cell in the Northern Forts.
The guardhouse was built in 1900 and many famous personalities have seen its walls. Since the opening of the prison, hundreds of people have died in it, and now the organizers of the museum claim that the building is inhabited by ghosts. The most famous otherworldly inhabitant is the White Lady, who can be seen if you risk spending the night in her cell No. 18.
Craftsman's house
This Liepaja museum exposition is known for two reasons: the importance of the mansion in which it is located, and the presence in it of an object entered in the Guinness Book of Records and symbolizing Latvia and the Baltic States as a whole in the best possible way.
The mansion, in the halls of which the exhibits of the "House of the Craftsman" were housed, was built at the end of the 17th century. It was these houses that represented the majority of urban residential development in Liepaja at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. The owner of the house, the burgomaster Joachim Schroeder, had the honor to receive King Charles XII of Sweden, who was visiting Latvia.
In the "House of the Craftsman", objects of applied art are exhibited, the authors of which are ordinary townspeople. An amazing exhibit - amber beads, included in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest. During the action, which took place in the city in 2003, everyone left a piece of amber in the museum. About 20 kg were collected. sun stone, from which beads were collected with a length of 123 m.
Other exhibits at the museum include straw crafts and embroidery, wood carvings and paintings by local artists.
Seaside park
The area of Jurmalas parks is 70 hectares. The park of Liepaja, which stretches along the seashore for 3 km, is the most popular among residents and guests of Liepaja, which was laid out at the beginning of the last century. At first, it even served as a resort, and even the Russian emperor and his family visited the beach and baths built in it.
Today, Jurmalas parks hosts a variety of celebrations, festivals and other events that Liepaja is famous for. The most famous is "Liepaja Amber" - a rock festival known since 1968.
There is an exhibition of sea fishing boats in the park, where vessels of different carrying capacities are demonstrated. The collection of anchors, the largest of which decorate the Park's Anchor Trail, contains about 100 items. The oldest anchors were cast in the 17th century.
In the Seaside Park, you will have a great time with the whole family. The organizers offer skateboarding areas, tennis courts, a minigolf course, summer cafes and several hiking trails among the trees belonging to nearly 170 different species of local and exotic flora.
