Cēsis History and Art Museum

The museum is located at the heart of the old town of Cēsis with a significant 18th – 19th century National architectural monument – Cēsis castle manor house. The museum was founded in 1925 and with more than 155 000 collection objects it is one of the largest municipal museums in the country. In its more than 90 years of existence, Cēsis Museum has become not only an important town, county and regional repository of past values, but also the town’s business card and the intersection of contemporary cultural life. The museum’s research work is related to the territory of the museum and the cultural and historical monuments – Cēsis medieval castle and manor house research, stock research collections, exhibitions and expositions of the city, county and the region’s history of culture importance and topical issues.

Since 2004, the museum acts as a section of municipality’s agency “Cēsis Culture and Tourism Centre”.

Exposition

In the museum building – Cēsis castle manor house, after its restoration, a permanent exhibition of the history “Cēsis – a symbol of Latvian history” is located, which shows the role of Cēsis in Latvian history. An important museum attraction in itself is the manor house, its architecture, restored and reconstructed 18th – 19th century interiors.

Collections

The museum collections are located in two buildings in the old town. One of them is located at 6 Gauja Street, where majority of the collection objects are stored including museum’s library.  It is also a working space for museum specialists. The second location at 23 Riga Street, in the old town is where the museums Open Collection is stored with more than 3,000 museum collection items.

The museum collection includes an extensive collection of archaeological objects from the pre-crusader and medieval period, which was formed as a result of archaeological research in the castle. The museum is very proud of its historical materials collection of Latvian red-white-red flag; it is the most extensive collection on this subject in Latvia. A significant part of the collection consists of works of art, ethnographic objects, printed documents and a photo collection of the town, county and regional history of relevant interests.

Exhibitions

The museum offers various kinds of exhibitions and programs in Cēsis castle manor house exhibition halls and lecture rooms.

Castle tower

The museum’s exhibitions offer the opportunity to visit the Lademaher tower of manor house, where visitors are welcomed by our national symbol – red-white-red flag. View from the castle tower offers a picturesque panorama of Cēsis, the towns nearest and farthest surroundings, look at the Livonian Order medieval castle in all its glory and romantic 18th – 19th century Castle complex architectural and scenic pearls.