CESIS SYMBOL OF LATVIA

You will enjoy Cesis Old Town, the Castle Ruins, the New Castle, park area. You will embark on a tour into a medieval castle of Cesis (German: Schloß Wenden) holding in your hand a candle lamp visiting the ruins and the chamber of Walter von Plettenberg – was the Master (Landmeister) of the Livonian Order from 1494 to 1535 and leader of the Teutonic Knights. Cesis Castle is the iconic and best preserved medieval castle in Latvia.

Then the guided tour takes you to the New Castle of Cesis. You will get feelings and information about the ancient Latvian tribe Vends. They first came to Cesis and where first inhabitants on Riekstu hill of the picturesque valley of the Gauja river where nowadays is opened Gauja National Park.

The exhibition will show you the life of the Cesis city during the period of Hansa Union, Poland, Sweden, the Russian Empire. The presentation about owners of the New Castle will represent the daily life of the noble Baltic German family Sievers which left a beautiful example of Biedermeier style interior decoration in the 1830s.

You will take a look at the unique artefacts of the red-white-red Latvian flag because Cesis is the birthplace of the Latvian flag. Cesis was the centre of the Jesuits and Brethren’s Congregation from Herrnhut, the centre of the Latvian education, identity, self-awareness. You will hear the story how the local pupil’s battalion nr. 8 of Cesis together with the townspeople have defended Cesis during World War I. In 1919 Cesis was a capital city of Latvian Republic and the centre of Estonian and Latvian freedom of Latvia. In Cesis was opening celebration of the Latvian song and art festival.

The new castle has a family room where families with friends can relax and at the same time get to know some interesting facts about Latvia. At the finish, Lademacher tower offers the opportunity to enjoy a panoramic view of the city Cesis.