{"id":1327,"date":"2024-09-25T10:56:22","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T07:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/?page_id=1327"},"modified":"2024-11-29T10:43:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T07:43:42","slug":"folk-song-park-dainu-hill","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/exhibitions\/open-air-exhibitions\/folk-song-park-dainu-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk Song Park, Dainu Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Establishment of Folk Song Hill and Folk Song Garden<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The establishment of Folk Song Hill and Folk Song Garden was a project which was exciting and full of enthusiasm, love and worries.\u00a0 The project was organised by the sculptor Indulis Ranka.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author of the idea and the head of the working group was Anna Jurk\u0101ne, and she was assisted by the architects J\u0101nis Rozent\u0101ls and Ilgvars Batrags, the landscape designers Aivars Irbe and Ruta Brice, as well as hundreds of people from all over Latvia.\u00a0 Folk Song Hill was not commissioned by the Soviet Latvian government.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was enshrined in a \u201cspecial agreement\u201d which was signed on October 21, 1980, and was based on correspondence between Ranka and Jurk\u0101ne, who was the director of the Sigulda Regional Research Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countless hours were spent in thinking about and working on the establishment of Folk Song Hill and Folk Song Garden.  It was decided to install sculptures and to create a lovely landscape and garden at the site.  Folk Song Hill was established with deep piety toward the surrounding environment.  The ensemble of sculptures was intuitive, making sure that the sculptures were in full harmony with the living environment in which they are found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turaida is full of sings about work, nature and the fatherland, and it has gradually become a special place at which folk songs can be used to express yearnings for freedom.  As the Third Latvian Renaissance approached in the mid-1980s, Folk Song Hill was the place where the Latvian Singing Revolution emerged and continued until the restoration of Latvia\u2019s independence in 1991.  Today Folk Song Hill is a symbol for the Singing Revolution, sending an eternal message about the strength of song and the self-respect of the Latvian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening of Folk Song Hill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Folk Song Hill was opened to the public on July 7, 1985, in honour of the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the birth of folklorist Kri\u0161j\u0101nis Barons and with a performance of one of the folk songs that he collected \u2013 \u201cI Stood and Sang Atop a High Hill.\u201d  Initially, the park had 15 sculptures by Indulis Ranka.  People remember the date as a grand day for folk songs on Folk Song Hill.  Poet J\u0101nis Peters told the gathering that \u201cthe Latvian folk song has never resounded on such a high hill.  It is a hill which testifies to the satisfaction of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first international folklore festival \u201cBaltica\u201d was held in Latvia in 1988, and the red-white-red Latvian flag was proudly raised on Folk Song Hill alongside the sculpture \u201cFather of Song.\u201d  Folk Song Hill increasingly brought together larger and ever larger numbers of folklore and ethnographic ensembles.  They presented countless concerts in Turaida to sing about the people\u2019s unity, consolidation and independence.  Folk Song Hill became a site at which people could try out their skill at singing, performing music and dancing, and it helped to strengthen the people\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art historian Ruta \u010caupova:  \u201cFrom the very beginning, this has been a place which the Latvian people nurture.  Folk Song Hill has been and continues to be an indicator of the culture of the age of the Renaissance.  I would say that it is a joint symbol for the culture of the nation, and it is based on culture, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening of Folk Song Garden<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the aforementioned \u201cBaltica\u201d folklore festival in 1988, it was clear that there was a need for a larger area at which people could come together and celebrate the nation\u2019s folk songs.\u00a0 A great deal of work was done in the orchard and the clay-based valley of the Turaida Estate \u2013 a valley that is full of streams \u2013 to create an outdoor amphitheatre.\u00a0 It can host a great many singers, dancers and audience members in the open air.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folk Song Garden opened the path for the further implementation of the idea of sculptures, the idea being that stone breathes and has ideas which become part of the surrounding environment.\u00a0 The curvy paths which link Folk Song Garden and Folk Song Hill established a unified ensemble \u2013 Folk Song Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, in Washington, Folk Song Hill was registered on a global list of sculptural gardens and parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlowers of the Sun for the President\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folk Song Garden created an impulse for extensive cultural processes in Turaida.  Families have held celebrations there, annual holidays are celebrated, choirs come together to sing, brass bands perform, there are open-air theatrical performances during the summer, and there are all kinds of festivals at the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a tradition for the Latvian people to express thanks by presenting flowers.  In 2007, flowers were contributed from all over Latvia to establish a large flower mosaic resembling the sun.  It was organised in thanks for the work that had been done by Latvian President Vaira V\u012b\u0137e-Freiberga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Establishment of Folk Song Hill and Folk Song Garden The establishment of Folk Song Hill and Folk Song Garden was a project which was exciting and full of enthusiasm, love and worries.\u00a0 The project was organised by the sculptor Indulis Ranka.\u00a0 The author of the idea and the head of the working group was Anna […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1517,"parent":1323,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1327","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327\/revisions\/1518"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turaida-muzejs.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}