The Latvian Cultural Canon Supplemented with a Landscape Section

Alongside the outstanding values of folk traditions, architecture and design, the performing arts, literature, visual arts, music and cinema, the Latvian Cultural Canon now also includes eight canonical Latvian landscapes – the Daugava landscape, the Zemgale Plain landscape, the Ancient Gauja Valley landscape, the Latgale Lakes landscape, the Latvian forest landscape, the coastal landscape, the Vidzeme Hilly Landscape and the Ancient Abava Valley landscape.

The landscape section of the Latvian Cultural Canon was created in accordance with the European Landscape Convention, whose implementation in Latvia is the responsibility of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM).  Latvia’s landscape policy is set out in the Guidelines for Latvia’s Landscape Policy for 2013–2019, which also included the preparation of proposals for the Latvian Cultural Canon.

Over the years, the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the National Library of Latvia (LNB) have worked together to supplement the Latvian Cultural Canon with a landscape section.

As part of the programme of events celebrating the centenary of the Republic of Latvia, VARAM, together with the planning regions and the LNB, implemented the “Landscape Treasures” project. With the involvement of residents and the Landscape Experts Council, 50 landscapes were nominated as Latvia’s treasures, richly reflecting Latvia’s landscape values in each planning region.

After assessing the landscape treasures nominated by the regions, the Landscape Experts Council agreed on eight broader landscapes – values of national significance to be included in the Latvian Cultural Canon. They can be explored in the Values section of the Latvian Cultural Canon website, kulturaskanons.lv, where the experts’ descriptions are supplemented by visual materials: contemporary photographs from the “Landscape Treasures” project and historical photographs from the “Lost Latvia” project, maps from the LNB’s Cartographic Materials Collection, early twentieth-century tourist brochures from the LNB’s Ephemera Collection, as well as links to articles in the digital library periodika.lv.

For travellers exploring Latvia’s canonical landscapes, links to various routes on the website of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, latvia.travel, will be useful, as will the website of the professional association “Lauku ceļotājs” and other resources.