Jaunmoku Palace Celebrates Its 120th Anniversary This Year!
Published: 08.03.2021
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This year, Jaunmoku Palace is celebrating its 120th anniversary. The theme of this significant festive year is “…naturally…”. Its multifaceted motto will run through all the events organised by the museum as part of Jaunmoku Palace’s anniversary year.
Nature is the element that unites the palace and its surroundings – the palace interiors reveal the influence of English Art Nouveau, an important component of which is the use of natural motifs and their visual presence in art and architecture. The anniversary year’s motto, “…naturally…”, also expresses the fundamental idea behind the Jaunmoku Palace complex: to create and maintain a beautiful, well-kept and comfortable, yet natural environment that encourages and educates people to think and live “green”.
Jaunmoku Palace was built in 1901 according to a design by architect Wilhelm Bockslaff as a hunting lodge for George Armitstead, Mayor of Riga. Its Neo-Gothic forms are combined with Art Nouveau elements, giving it a special place among Latvia’s architectural masterpieces.
Neo-Gothic architecture developed within the context of Romanticism, while nature and its elements were an important source of inspiration and a model for the development of Art Nouveau. They were transformed into ornamental decorations and used in shaping the forms of building parts and volumes—through asymmetrical compositions and curved, rounded lines and forms.
At Jaunmoku Palace, one can sense both the touch of Romanticism and the vitality of Art Nouveau: diverse natural motifs, playfully winding lines, rich nuances of colour and their variety in wallpaper patterns and decorative upholstery fabrics, which are filled with nature-inspired motifs—garlands of leaves, fruit and flowers, as well as figures of birds.
Throughout its existence, the palace has witnessed various events and owners. After George Armitstead sold the palace to the von Brinken family in 1904, it was also home to the Ungern-Sternberg family and the Baltic German Freiman family.
In 1920, during the agrarian reform, the estate’s territory was divided, and in 1929 a children’s sanatorium called “Cīrulīši” was established at its centre. During the Second World War, the palace housed a Red Army sergeants’ school, followed later by a German radio station and a German military hospital. During the Soviet period, the palace contained a shop, offices and flats. In 1976, restoration work began that would last more than 20 years, with the intention of establishing the Latvian Forest Museum there. However, the project was not realised, and the first forest exhibitions were installed on the palace’s second floor only in 1991. In 1992, the State Hunting Enterprise became responsible for managing the palace, while since 2000 it has been managed by AS “Latvijas valsts meži”.
Today, while preserving the cultural and historical values of its surroundings and continually introducing new cultural tourism products, Jaunmoku Palace has become one of the best-known leisure destinations in Latvia. The Jaunmoku Palace complex offers a diverse range of activities and services: visitors can admire the unique tiled stove, the Art Nouveau salons and George Armitstead’s memorial room; take part in a variety of museum educational programmes; discover the living nature of Latvia’s forests interactively through the exhibitions; and climb the approximately 20-metre-high palace tower, which offers a magnificent view of Latvia’s natural landscape. The complex also offers hotel and family restaurant services, as well as splendid premises for celebrations and conferences.
Throughout the anniversary year, the theme “…naturally…” will run through the events organised by the Jaunmoku Palace Museum. At the culmination of the celebrations, 4 July — at the warmest time of year, when nature is in full bloom — Jaunmoku Palace will celebrate its 120th anniversary with a special cultural programme at the Garden Festival, already beloved by visitors!
Jaunmoku Palace—a place where time, nature and music come together!
Information prepared by:
SIA Jaunmoku pils
Head of Marketing and Public Relations
