Description of the attraction
Jaunpils Castle is located in the village of the same name, it is located about 50 km from the town of Jelgava, 25 km from Dobele. The local landmark is one of the few medieval fortresses in Latvia that has survived to our time. The fortress was built in 1301 as a fortress of the Livonian Order. The castle was founded by the master of the order Gottfried von Rog.
The thickness of the fortress walls reaches almost 2 meters; many believe that many people are walled up in the wall. In general, this place once had a bad reputation, thanks to the owners of the castle, the family of barons von der Reck. There is a legend about how the castle went to Baron Reka. According to legend, the landowner Reke once lived. He was very strong and was possessed by the devil. He had a very heavy chair, which was difficult even for two of his servants to carry. So, in anger, he easily took this chair and walked with it like a cane.
Once the landowners were instructed to ride horses, how much territory they can go around, how much land they will own. Baron Reka managed to bypass a large area from Saldus to Dobele and from Dobele to Tukums, thus Jaunpils was just in the middle.
Of course, this is just a legend, and in fact Baron Reke got the Jaunpils fortress in a completely different way. After the Livonian Order was defeated, its last master, Gothard Kettler, swore allegiance to the Polish king in 1561. King Sigismund Augustus appointed Kettler head of the newly formed Duchy of Courland. However, not all owners of the castle agreed with this decision. Then Kettler entered into a military alliance with Baron Recke. Under this agreement, Kettler, for the assistance of the landowner Recke, promised to transfer certain districts to him for perpetual use. Subsequently, the Duke of the State of Courland did not keep his promise, after which an armed struggle began between Kettler and the River, which lasted almost 10 years. As a result of this confrontation, the River managed to get only the Jauntspils district along with the fortress. Since that time, the von der Recke family (Recke) was the owner of this estate until 1920.
There are many stories and legends associated with the von der Recke family, and most of them are unpleasant, scary and evil. In general, Mathias von der Recke himself and his descendants were not distinguished by their philanthropy. So, for example, there is such a story: Baron Matthias built a rectangular area on his estate and fenced it off with stone walls. There he placed 300 Swedish prisoners of war brought from the war. They lived there in the open air, doing all the housekeeping and construction work on the Jauntspils estate. When the need for additional labor was no longer needed, Baron Matthias drove all the prisoners of war into the barn and set it on fire with his own hands. He walked around the barn, warming his hands, and, in response to the cries of the dying, said: "Well, hear my mice squeak!"
Another of the descendants of Baron Mathias von der Reck brought a hitherto unseen telescope. He amused himself by spying on the laborers from the bathhouse of the castle and frightening them with terrible screams at the most unexpected moment. There is even a story about how one farm laborer died of a heart attack. The baron spied on her, and when she lay down to rest, he screamed so that she died. The rumor spread that the devil himself was telling the baron about everything that was happening, and the nickname "Devil's River" was fixed. Although the Reke themselves were amused by this nickname.
There is one more story after which Jauntspils tried to bypass, especially in bad weather. The fact is that the baron's younger brother was terribly bored at the estate, especially during bad weather, when there was absolutely nothing to do, which is why he began to kiss the bottle more often. Then the baron himself ordered to build a devil over his window, which howled in an eerie voice during the rain and did not allow him to "relax" with a bottle. Rumor has it that the younger brother quit drinking. This feature has survived to our time, but during the last war, the mechanism was damaged, thanks to which he issued such a terrible cry. Moreover, the secret of the mechanism cannot be revealed even today.
Today, public life is under way in Jauntspils Castle. All kinds of holidays, events, theatrical performances are often held here. The castle, surrounded on three sides by water, and its surroundings, are a picturesque, attractive place for tourists.
