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History

History of the Liepaja Museum

In the beginning of the 20^th century two societies were engaged in collecting museum objects in Liepaja: the Liepaja Antiquity society created by the Germans in 1911 and the Liepaja Latvian society, that in 1912 acquired an official permission for beginning of collecting objects for the future museum. When in 1922 the Kurzemes Museum society was established, it took the responsibility for doing everything in order to create a museum in Liepaja by uniting various societies’ funds.

The town museum was opened on the 30^th November 1924. In 1935 the museum moved from its first dwelling in Jana Cakstes Square into the respectable edifice, built in 1901, in Kurmajas Avenue 16, where it is situated also nowadays.

The edifice was built by architect Paul Makss Berchi after Berlin architect Ernest von Ine’s sketches. A wide, inter-communicating hall with a gallery is the basis of the complicated configuration of the two-storied room construction. The hall’s interior stands out with its splendour, the gallery’s banisters are made in the shape of a sharp arch arcade, sandriks with consoles decorate the portals. The main entrance doors are a real masterpiece, a work of a high level of art. The mansion’s roof is rather unusual considering Latvian architecture, since it is made of ornamentally placed black and red tiles.

The Liepaja Museum’s creator and its manager during many years was pedagogue, artist and the folk art researcher Janis Sudmalis (1887 – 1984).

These days the museum’s funds have over 100 000 objects, whereas in the museum halls Liepaja and Southern Kurzeme’s past is reflected in about 1500 exhibits: the history of Ancient times with unique archeological objects, the history of medieval towns and cities, time signs of the 19^th – 20^th centuries, Southern Kurzeme’s ethnography in the framework of human life, the life and creative work of sculptor Mikelis Pankoks.