Project “Turaida – to be present”

30.04.2025.

Story of how the implementation of the “European cultural heritage in Turaida – to be present” project occurred

The Beginning. Inventory.

Each year usually starts with more or less in-depth stock-taking, plans that promote development, and decisions to work more passionately and more creatively, as well as to be more socially responsible. The beginning of 2024 was no exception. In 2025, the symbol of centuries of history – Turaida stone castle – turned 810; the extension of the collection of memories of the father of Dainas (Latvian folk songs) – Krišjānis Barons, the symbol of Latvian identity – Dainu Hill – turned 40.

The principal topic of European Heritage Days focuses on the accessibility of cultural heritage. There are lots of questions, lots of good, close but not yet fully used resources, and there is a shortage of money, along with a desire to increase the interest and understanding of the target audience of children and young people about cultural values, which builds identity links and participation, as well as to improve cooperation with educational institutions – teachers and parents of children, starting with those who can be reached nearby.

How to foster communication? How to find a way to reach children and young people of different ages in order to stimulate emotional attachment – an interest to see, hear, feel, find out, explore, wonder, and learn? How to involve them in a manner that makes them want to come and participate – to be present, and to continue doing so afterwards by feeling that Turaida is their place and that they themselves are a part of Turaida? How to attract the interest of parents?

How to motivate teachers to bring their students to the museum? How to promote interaction between different cultural and educational institutions and cultural education processes through friendly and positive communication with society? Based on multiple questions, the challenge of getting on the list of people’s needs; demonstrating that we are right there, next to them; awakening the curiosity of children and youths and their interest in cultural heritage, became clear.

The Turaida Museum Reserve is rich in opportunities to use the cultural space for learning and creativity. The richness of the museum is encyclopaedic. Supportive environment and resources – exhibitions, collections and historic buildings, enable interaction with visitors and the stimulation of their creativity.
In order to introduce the values and the history of the Museum, the Turaida Museum Reserve offers 8 educational programmes, which are also included in the Latvian cultural education programme “Latvian School Bag” – according to statistics, nearly 400 programmes are conducted each year – these involve children and young people from all over Latvia, mainly of younger, primary school age.
Turaida Museum Reserve is located in Sigulda Municipality, which has a total of 27 educational institutions: 10 pre-school educational institutions, 1 elementary school, 5 primary schools, 3 secondary schools; 1 state gymnasium, 6 vocational educational institutions and 1 institution of interest education. An active and cooperative Sigulda Regional Library.
In 2022, the historical centre of Turaida, where Dainu Hill is located, was awarded the highly-coveted European Heritage Label of the European Council. Being a European cultural institution that has received this high rating has enabled it to compete for funding from the European Commission.

How to get to the destination? Figuratively speaking, we realised that you can reach your destination in different ways – if you have the resources, you can fly or take a high-speed train; if you have more limited resources, you can walk and enjoy the scenery along the way.

Strengthening the Sense of Belonging.Co-creation

After “brushing up the barn”, the outlines of the project – its aims and objectives – became more apparent. Taking advantage of the fact that the range of educational establishments in Sigulda Municipality is so rich, to develop and promote sustainable cooperation by providing a wide range of participatory networking opportunities between different cultural and educational institutions and different social groups, and to expand the range of target audiences involved by ensuring responsible partnerships and loyalty; In short, it could be defined as strengthening the sense of belonging.

The implementation of these tasks does not require large financial resources, it requires targeted and regular work – larger and smaller projects based on co-creation, where, along with the content, the tasks and the type of cooperation must be selected carefully – which can include events, campaigns, workshops, study trips, and competitions, as well as methodological guidance for teachers to support the learning process. The main focus should be dedicated to the creative process of knowledge production.

www.atklajturaidu.lv

Technology is increasingly present in the environment of the museum, and its use has greatly improved access to information. Good things inspire and encourage people to look for ways to make them happen. A website “For Schools” can be found on the main website of AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (JSC Latvia’s State Forests) under the section “Learn in Nature”, which contains pretty much all the available information about forests in a very thoughtful and sequential way – including educational programmes, study tours and teaching materials for different ages, from pre-school to student materials: https://skolam.lvm.lv/.

It is an extensive and high-quality material with the slogan “A Place to Grow”, created by JSC “Latvia’s State Forests” in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Innovation of the University of Latvia and the European Forest Pedagogics Association. Everyone has the opportunity to explore the trails of Latvia’s State Forests to draw inspiration and consolidate the knowledge acquired at school with practical tasks in nature.

Currently, www.atklajturaidu.lv is just the first step of the Turaida Museum Reserve on its journey to becoming a place for the work of children, young people, teachers, and parents on the way to rediscovering the rich secrets of Turaida! Educational games, walking routes, tips for creative work inspired by the treasures in the collections of the museum, and news about various exhibitions, competitions and events will be available here!

Insights

The thesis that the process is also an outcome was confirmed.
There are still many good resources that can be used – cooperation must be continued with determination. A wide range of activities have been implemented in a short period of time.
Schools already have a wide range of events and activities to choose from, and museums have to compete with a variety of other offers. Timely planning and “wrapping up” of events is important. Unfortunately, not all comprehensive schools of Sigulda Municipality were equally active in the implementation of the project – Sigulda State Gymnasium, Sigulda City High School and Sigulda Primary School No. 1 were the most active ones. All art and music schools of Sigulda Municipality participated in the project “Medieval Flags”, while pre-school educational institutions were the most active in the logo competition “Turaida Castle 810”.
The organisation of various competitions helped to involve the general public in communication, mainly through publicity on the websites of educational institutions and e-classes, as well as on the Facebook page of the museum and at exhibitions.
Whatever the reason for the visit of a group to the museum, it is always an opportunity to promote the museum and its services and to encourage people to visit the museum again.
Regular work with school methodological associations of subject teachers is needed to motivate teachers to make more use of the offer of the museum and to come back with different groups of classes.
Further work is needed on the education platform www.atklajturaidu.lv, by improving the offer of the content.

A number of surveys have been carried out within the framework of the project; here are some of the insights from youths:

“I think what youths like best about the museum is that the exhibitions are not trapped in one building, but in different historical buildings. (…) Nowadays, I think more interactive tasks and exhibitions on display could help young people enjoy the museum. (…) The videos “Discover Turaida” and “Dainu Hill”, produced by the Museum were, in my opinion, very good – they were targeted at young people.” (Katrīna Šņore, Riga State German Grammar School, Grade 8)
“Young people can be motivated to come to the museum by interesting events (which are already actively taking place at the museum) or by “museum youth”, who would come to the museum for regular masterclasses, not just museum visits. Camps, cinema/game nights, sports events! (…) Simplified, story-based information. Not just facts but stories about real people from specific time periods – who they were, what they felt, what they did. (…) A digital site, an app or an audio guide with content specifically designed for young people – maybe even with game elements or story missions to keep the attention of young people” (Marta Kondratjuka, Ita Kozakiewicz Polish Secondary School, Grade 11)
“I think what young people like about the Turaida Museum Reserve is that there are so many attractions to see.” (Elizabete Baranovska, Mārupe State Gymnasium, Grade 9)

An overview of the “European cultural heritage in Turaida – to be present” project is available here: