Starting from September 6, a new interactive open-air exhibition “Pearls of Nature” is open to visitors in the Turaida Forest Park at the Turaida Museum Reserve. While creating this exhibition, the museum reserve chose families with children as its priority target audience, setting the goal of creating an accessible and educational environment for families, while promoting understanding of the importance of biodiversity.
The territory of the Turaida Museum Reserve, covering nearly 58 hectares, includes archaeological, historical, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as natural values. The Forest Park area, where the sites of historical ponds are located and ancient, notable trees can be found, has been identified—based on research carried out by biologist Viesturs Lārmanis—as suitable habitat for the hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita).
To improve the conditions for the hermit beetle, a few years ago the undergrowth was cleared, the sites of the old ponds were restored so that they would once again hold water, and the area was landscaped, creating walking paths with benches.
The hermit beetle is one of the so-called “umbrella species,” whose presence or disappearance in a habitat also indicates the status of other species. The presence of umbrella species is a sign that the habitat is suitable for several hundred other species.
It should be noted that until now only signs of the hermit beetle had been observed in the Turaida Forest Park territory. However, in August of this year, museum reserve staff not only encountered the beetle itself but even managed to photograph it.
In the open-air exhibition “Nature’s Pearls” in the Turaida Forest Park, visitors will learn stories about what an umbrella species is, discover the hermit beetle and its neighbors, explore the park-like landscape so well-suited to the hermit beetle’s life, find out why it is important to create “insect hotels,” and get to know the park’s notable trees – the wild apple tree and the oak.
For children, several interactive elements of the exhibition have been created where they can take part themselves – studying the differences between a wild apple and a cultivated apple tree, comparing their own size to that of the giant trees, and, in the special hermit beetle house, meeting not only the hermit beetles themselves but also their neighbors, as well as viewing a giant-sized model of the hermit beetle.
With this new exhibition, the Turaida Museum Reserve aims to create a place where children and adults can enjoy spending time together, promoting beautiful, shared moments.
The exhibition “Nature’s Pearls” was created through close collaboration between the museum reserve specialists and several well-known experts in their fields – Andrejs Svilāns (dendrology, National Botanical Garden), Maksims Balalaikins (entomology, Daugavpils University), Voldemārs Spuņģis (entomology, University of Latvia), and Zanda Segliņa (habitat diversity in park-like landscapes, Nature Conservation Agency).
The content of the exhibition was authored by museum educator Ija Kivlina, while the design concept was developed and the implementation led by architect Didzis Jaunzems (DJA Ltd.).
Part of the funding needed for creating the exhibition was secured through the project “Garden Pearls for Everyone” (Garden Pearls II), implemented with the co-financing of the INTERREG Estonia–Latvia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021–2027 (project identification number: LV00038).
The open-air exhibition “Nature’s Pearls” in the Turaida Forest Park is available to visitors every day during the museum reserve’s opening hours. Entrance is included with the museum reserve admission ticket.
Prepared by
Gunta Zaķīte
Head of the Communication and Educational Work Department
Turaida Museum Reserve
Num. 29384512
