We
made a short side trip to the town of Cesis, which dates from
the 13th
century. Our tour was brief and, unfortunately rainy--many of
the
photos we took were unusable, but what you see here is a brief
overview
of our visit. We walked from the outskirts of the city to the
city
center (photo to the left). Visible in the background is the
church we
would visit on our return. On the right is a photo of the cafe
where we
enjoyed some
pastries and tea as we waited for the rain to abate.
We
then journeyed down Liela
Skolas
ieala, which appeared to be the Rodeo
Drive of Cesis, lined with stately buildings whose windows were
filled with luxury goods. This may be seen in the photo to the
left.
Continuing up the street, we arrived at Unity Square, marked by
the
stelae in the center, and offering a view of the regional court
building, both shown in the photo to the left.
From
the Unity Square we headed west on
Pils iela towards the
Cesis Castle. Ironically, just opposite the Proscecutors Office
was a
Museum to Sirdsapziņas
Ugunskurs
or the Burning Conscience Museum, a
former Soviet prison that is now dedicated to
telling the
story of Lavian resistance to the Soviet occuption. The
exhibition's
multimedia displays provide deep insight into the local
community's
patriotism and motivation. A timeline covers major events from
1939
until 1957 and extracts from local newspapers draw parallels
between
propaganda and Soviet regime policies. Below is a video of the
museum.
Sirdsapziņas
Ugunskurs
(Burning
Conscience Museum)
Visiting
the Castle:
One
of the highlights of visiting Cesis is touring the Cesis Castle,
one of
the most iconic and best preserved medieval castles in Latvia.
The
foundations of the castle were laid 800 years ago by the
Livonian
Brothers of the Sword. The most prosperous period Cēsis Castle
experienced was during its next owners, the Teutonic Order. It
became
one of the key administrative and economic centers of the
Teutonic
Order in Livonia and was a seat of Landmeister in Livland. We
gained
access via a gate just down from theSirdsapziņas Ugunskurs
(photo to the left). The gate opened unto a grassy square, and
around
the square were the Cesis Exhibition hall (photo the right)
which
unfortunately was closed, and the Art and History Museum, where
we
purchased our tickets. This was no small feat, as we were 
within an
an
hour of closing time and it took strenuous
persuasion by Sergey for us to gain admittance, Exiting the
Museum, our first stop was the building across from it, which
housed the Ancient Jewellry Smithy, where the master craftsman
reproduces jewellry from the time period of the castle. This is
shown
in the photo to the left. From there we journeyed down a path to
the
castle proper.
Like most castles,
the Cesis Castle is
surrounded by a moat and access is gained via a long and rather
new
looking wooden bridge, shown in the photo to the left. The moat
itself
is now just an empty gully. Passing under the entrance gate and
into
the ruins, our first stop was a courtyard toward the end of the
ruins,
where we rented a lantern, which is needed to navigate the dark
inner
recesses of the castle. This is shown in the photo to the right.
Our first ascent up
the dark and winding
stone stairs, stairs built for people shorter than ourselves,
was to
tour the West Tower, the best preserved of the three remaining
Towers.
As expected, it is a series of circular rooms with wooden floors
and
narrow windows, much like those at the Turaida Castle we visited earlier in our
travels.
The photo to the left shows the ground floor. The real
attraction,
however is at the top of the tower, the Master's Chamber. It
features a
domed ceiling and provides excellent views of the area. This is
shown
in the photo to the right.
Our next darkness-cloaked trip
was to the top of the
Southern tower, another candle-lit ascent to the top, but this
time
the scene was quite different than the climb to the top of the
West
Tower; while both offered splendid views, the room itself had
none of
the grandeur of the Master's Chamber, as shown in the photo to
the
left. However, the most spectacular aspect of the tower is only
visible
on the descent from the top of the tower--the splendid
multimedia show
that uses the castle's turret as a backdrop upon which are
projected
images detailing the history of the storied castle. The photo to
right
shows this presentation, and it is shown in greater detail in
the video
below.
Multimedia
Exhibition
in the Western Tower
Exiting the castle, we took in
two more sights before
leaving
the castle grounds. To the left of the castle entrance was an
area
displaying medieval life in all its forms--dress, cooking, and
the
creation of everyday objects. In the photo to the left, a
craftsman
explains how Latvians made the tools of everyday life.
Following
this
we took in a bit of the Garden Park, a lovely green area that
has the
castle as its picturesque backdrop (photo to the right).
Capturing the Cesis
Castle
Experience:
Static photos are limited in how they can capture an impression
of
the place, as they are static images in a linear order. In
respect to
Cesis Castle, this results in two short comings. First, there is
no way
to connect the dots, establishing the relationship of the photos
to one
another. In
order to address this limitation, we have included a video
screenshot
of the virtual tour included on the Cesis
Castle
website. This will give readers some sense of how the
photos
are connected. The second limitation is that the darkness of the
castle
ruins really preclude photos and thus do not give a very real
impression of touring the castle. In order to address this, we
have
included a snippet of a YouTube video by AK Wolverine, a tour of
the
southern tower
of castle, in the hope of capturing some of the atmosphere of
the
castle
tour. It may be found below the video of the castle virtual
tour. To
see all of the video, click
here.
Our
last visit was to St.
John's Church, one of the oldest medieval architectural
monuments in
Latvia. It was built in the beginning of 13th century during
the
Christianization of the Baltics by the Livonian Holy
Order. The order was located in Cesis, and therefore the
church and the
town became one of the most important centers of German
power, and a
key
player in the Hanseatic League. The church is 65 m long and
32 m wide
three-sphere basilica. Its western end has a massive 65 m
high bell
tower with a 15 m high Gothic spire. The altar is shown in
the photo
to the left, while its renowned organ is shown in the photo
to the
right. The church is the site of an international organ
festival. Below
is a video of the church's interior.