The Southern tower

The Southern tower is open for visitors in summer. In its four-floors there is set a multimedia exhibition “Life on a Powder Barrel”, which  informs about the 500-year-old history when the Livonians lived in anticipation of inevitable change.

The South Tower, once known as Tall Hermann (Garais Hermanis), is one of the most remarkable examples of medieval military architecture in the Baltics. Soon, after two years of restoration, every visitor of the castle will be able to explore it. Using the possibilities provided by modern technology, the exposition set up in the tower will reveal in an exciting way the stories of historical persons who were once imprisoned in the prison built in the basement of the tower, as well as explain the role of the Long Hermann in protecting the castle.

The creation of the exposition “Life on a Powder Barrel” in The Southern tower of Cēsis Castle is provided by the companies SIA “DD&M” (spatial elements), SIA “XEL Projekts” (development of audiovisual materials) and SIA “Solavi” (multimedia equipment). The authors of the exposition are Gundars Kalniņš and Elīna Kalniņa from Cēsis.

The restoration of the Tall Hermann and the creation of the exposition “Life on a Powder Barrel” is implemented by the European Union Funds for the 2014–2020 programming period Operational Program “Growth and Employment” specific support objective “Restoration, renovation and rebuilding of cultural and natural heritage sites and the related infrastructure” in the collaborative project “Culture, history and architecture in the bends of time and the river Gauja”.

Cēsis municipality implements the project in cooperation with Sigulda municipality, which is the leading partner of the project. The total funding of the exhibition is EUR 66,494.34, of which the ERDF is EUR 56,520.19, the state budget grant is EUR 2,493.54 and the local government co-financing is EUR 7,480.61.

Tower is available on summer season.