"There are many ideas I have taken away from my exchange to Latvia. I admired the way locally available resources and skills were utilised. There is a strong use of wood in the new buildings and even in the interpretation panels. The skills of the local wood carvers could be found in the high quality results of the projects."

Amy Dale, St Andrews Museum

                                                                      The Group At  Pakalniesi

Introduction                                       

I wanted to participate in the Innovation in Cultural Heritage Interpretation exchange to Latvia because training and continuing professional development is a central focus of my role as Collections Intern for the Museum Collections Unit at the University of St Andrews. I was keen to gain an international perspective and learn from examples of best practice. The exchange lasted eight days and six people attended. Due to space limitations I have highlighted the aspects of the visit which I found most useful.

Riga Zoo

Riga Zoo was established in 1908 and during our visit was undergoing continuing development of the animal enclosures, visitor facilities, and animal collections. 20 new species were added to the collection in 2008, and by the end of that year the zoo had a total of 423 animal species under its care. Several excellent new enclosures were open to the public, including the home for the new three giraffes and the Goat Hill exhibit. The Zoo also had an abundance of juveniles for the visitors to enjoy. This included young wild boar, and it was the first time this species had bred within the zoo for 33 years.

The interpretation and text panels at the zoo were clearly presented and enhanced the visitor experience. The labels for the individual species gave the name in Latvian, followed by the Latin scientific name. The common animal name was then given in a further three languages, English, German and Russian. Each label also included the thumbnail picture of the animal. The inclusion of a picture in the label made it easier for visitors to spot the animals in the cages and enclosures as they know what to look for. For example, many of the amphibians on display exhibited camouflage traits and were hard to identify. The interpretation panels for the larger outdoor enclosures also included information about habitat, diet and growth patterns. This information was given in the form of a diagram, which meant that facts did not have to be repeated in several languages, making the panels more visitor friendly.

The Tropical House was one of the greatest successes within the zoo. The quality of the exhibits was excellent. The Tropical House also included an exhibition on the CITIES regulations (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. This exhibit consisted of two wall mounted cases, side by side. The items housed in the display included a range of species covered by the CITIES regulations.The interpretation in this display was only provided in Latvian, however the storyline of the exhibition was clearly understandable from the items chosen for display. The furs hanging from the top of the cases provided an excellent shock-factor and played a large role in delivery the message to the audience.

Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum

This museum was founded in 1924 and aimed to preserve and exhibit traditional Latvian buildings including homesteads, several churches, windmills, smithies and brick-kilns. The day the group attended the museum the Latvian national Fair of applied arts – 2009 was taking place in the extensive grounds. The Fair consisted of small exhibitions inside buildings and a large market selling a variety of traditional craft items. The market was a popular event with the local people of Riga. The market gave an impression of the traditional crafts and culture of Latvia. Many of the items for sale were made from the natural resources of the forest, including hand woven wicker baskets and wooden furniture.

Talsi Tourism information centre and the surrounding region

On arrival at Talsi the group had the opportunity to make traditional cakes at a bakery, which was an enjoyable experience. The bakery had been operating for several years, and has build on their success by opening a new café, which could also be hired to celebrations such as birthdays. In Talsi we also enjoyed a tour of the “nine hills” and two lakes, for which the town is famous. The tour included information about the Couronain archaeological remains found in Vilkmiiža Lake. I also discovered information about symbols found in these remains, which continue to be used today. This includes rayed sun and moon symbols, which I found intriguing as I have come across similar designs in my research into the material culture of the Balkan regions. I aim to follow this up with more research.

Sun and Moon Symbols

Lauma Dabas parks

This park was a good example of the development of an area of land into a tourist attraction. After the soviet era the owners regained the land they inherited from grandparents and discovered it was not suitable for agriculture. They have gone on to develop several trails within the forest, which includes flower, honey and activity trails. Along side the trails they have created a range of accommodation, which includes the newly build fairy house. The park was very family friendly and the fun style of the park would particularly appeal to children. I thought the fairy house was an excellent new addition to the business, which acted as a guesthouse and also a popular venue for wedding receptions. The owner seemed receptive to our idea of developing the nature park as a venue for couples to get married as well as holding the reception, although this is currently not a large market in Latvia (as many couples get married in churches).

Open Air art museum

The open-air art museum was constructed by an artist and consisted of artworks made by friends scattered around the land. I found this an interesting place to visit as it raised the issues of the care and curation of artworks in private collections. Many of the artworks were placed in the landscape without any thought to the context and I felt many were just sitting in a field. The museum lacked interpretation and curation. There were no interpretive labels or panels and I think the museum would have benefited from an introduction panel, as a minimum.

Sculpture made from Television Screens

Many of the artworks also were starting to show signs of poor collection care. They were suffering from damage from being kept outside, with many metal items starting to rust. Painted boards were beginning to fade from high lux levels and the wood was warping from changes in relative humidity. The museum also raised issues of sustainability and continuity of private collections. After the collector dies what will happen to the collection and the museum? Will the family want the collection to be donated to a state owned museum? What are the financial implications of this?

Tērvete Nature Park 

 

Tērvete Nature Park is run by the Latvian state forest. The State forest

service has three main functions; economic, ecological and social. This means that the service has to make a profit from the forest for the Latvian government, it has a responsibility to safe guard the ecological sustainability of the forest and it has a social role in educating young people about the natural environment. The State forest has a positive scheme where a percentage of the annual profits are spent on education work within the

nature park.

The nature park had many trails which were based on the theme of fairytales and the natural environment. The fairytale theme is drawn from the famous Latvian writer Anna Brigadere, who was born in Tērvete. I believe the success of the trails at Tērvete is derived from using the natural resources available and highly skilled local craftsmen. The group had the opportunity to visit the workshop of the wood carvers.

The interpretation panels situated along the trails were engaging and inspiring. Each panel was carved from wood and the text and graphics were painted onto the wood panels by an illustrator. The nature park also had a monthly newspaper which was mounted on an interpretation panel.

The park has an excellent new visitor centre, but further plans to develop the large education centre had to be put on hold due to the economic crisis. The current centre had two large spaces to hold workshops and summer camps. The spaces had been well designed for these activities as there was a large amount of flexibility and balcony access to the forest provided a clear link with the natural environment.

Rundales Palace

Rundales Palace was built between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence of Duke Ernst Johann of Courland. Restoration work on the building and interiors has been continuing since the 1970s. Interpretation was limited at the palace. To help visitors identify artifacts and architectural features within the palace a photo of each room with numbers was laminated. The numbers then referred to artefact lists available in several different languages. I thought this was an effective labelling technique and it was also unobtrusive which allowed visitors to enjoy the palace. I aim to develop this technique for use in display cases in temporary exhibitions.

Environmental information centre, Pakalniesi, State Forest Service

The State Forest Service has a large range of responsibilities and many stakeholders and activities have a strong focus on education. Over the last few years the service has developed courses, seminars and lectures for forest owners. These are held at the information training centre over several days and equip the private forest owners with the skills necessary for environmentally successful forest management. The centre also runs educational workshops and camps for school children. These are focused on learning about the forest and the natural environment. The children learn about the various species of tree found in the forest through handling specimens. Other workshops consist of smelling and feeling forest products and guessing what they could be, learning about the mammals that live in the forest, with a chance to handle pelts and identify animal tracks. The different habitats of animals have been created in the grounds of the information centre. This includes a giant spider’s web, a birdhouse in which fifty children can stand and an underground cave that shows the habitats of badgers, foxes and rabbits. The information centre is located next to a lake and therefore the children also learn about fresh water resources, including fish. Concepts on indigenous species and competition with non-native species are also introduced.

Giant Spiders Web

I found the children’s educational workshops very inspiring because they combined so many interactive elements. I like the interactive elements of the children’s workshops which included all learning styles and involved touching, smells, and listening. As a result of this visit I have arranged a meeting with our Learning and Access Curator to discuss how we can use the ideas I have gained in our educational programming at the University of St Andrews. Most of the equipment needed for the children’s workshops was hand-made locally by friends and family of the State Forest employees.

I also enjoyed the visit to the Museum of Brothers Jurjani, who are a famous musical family in Latvia. The museum consists of the buildings in which the family were born and lived. The group visited a black sauna and had an evening meal in one of the museum buildings. I enjoyed learning about the cleansing rituals and traditional use of the sauna. This was followed by a traditional meal the house of the brothers Jurjani. I found the experience helped me understand the traditional folk way of life in Latvia.

Gauja National Park

Gauja national was established in 1973 under the Soviet regime. It was the first national park in Latvia and consists of 91,745 ha. The main aim of the park is to protect the natural environment whilst developing tourism and recreation.

Gauja park has recently opened several a new visitor centres which incorporate offices, educational space, exhibitions and visitor facilities. The staff developed educational workshops aimed at school children and these workshops were designed to simulate all the senses during the learning activities. The most effective activities were identifying forest products hidden in camera film canisters. One task was based on smell and the children were asked to smell samples of the products and then identify the canisters which contain the same forest product. For example the children had to match up two samples of lavender only using their sense of smell. The other task also involved identifying two of the same forest product, but using sense of sound rather than smell. This was achieved by shaking the film canisters to found out which two samples were the same. I thought these activities were excellent because they were interactive and can be produced on a budget using recycled film canisters and forest products found in the natural environment.

Gauja National park has also recently developed their use of volunteers and internships. This successful initiative sourced volunteered from countries around Europe to come and work in the park for three months to one year.

There is a high concentration of historic monuments and also important sandstone outcrops which were formed during the Devonian era. Many of these sandstone outcrops are suffering from damage by visitors in the form of graffiti carved into the rock. The area has been a popular tourist destination since the 1800s and in the past wealthy tourist paid local carvers to scale the rocks and carve their names into the sandstone. The graffiti is a continuing problem today, and on our visit to the various sites recent damage was obvious (much of the graffiti consists of a name and a date). Recent damage is not only eroding the rock further, but also destroying historical graffiti which has some research value. Currently methods of placing sings are not curbing damage and more resources need to be found to protect the outcrops. However, there are some rare species of lichen which thrive in the carved graffiti of the sandstone. 

                                                                                                                              Carved Graffiti

Conclusions and application to my work

Throughout the visit to Latvia I saw much recent development and funding in tourism and the natural environment. Many sites we visited had new buildings, some of which had only been open a few weeks. I was impressed with the high standard of these new developments, many of which contained excellent educational spaces. Much of the infrastructure for tourism has been put in place, but at the time of our exchange there were few other visitors enjoying and using these facilities. I believe this will be a growing market and over the coming years visitor numbers are set to increase. As well as witnessing the new developments in Latvia the impact of the current economic crisis was noticeable. Much building work in Latvia as been put on hold and many projects remained uncompleted because the funds are not available to continue. The places we visited also had exciting plans for the future that have also had to be put on hold. It would be interesting to revisit Latvia in five years to see how tourism and heritage have developed in the country, after they have recovered from the economic crisis.

There are many ideas I have taken away from my exchange to Latvia. I admired the way locally available resources and skills were utilised. There is a strong use of wood in the new buildings and even in the interpretation panels. The skills of the local wood carvers could be found in the high quality results of the projects. I believe that by using local available resources and skills, made economic sense but also increased the standards of the project. I also admired Latvia’s use of multi-lingual interpretation, which was often provided in four languages, Latvian, Russian, German and English. Having the experience of being a tourist in a country where I do not speak the language made me think about the visitor experience to the Museum of the University of St Andrews (MUSA). This new museum currently only provides information in English. This exchange highlighted the importance of the need to increase resources for non-English speakers, both printed and online materials.

I also picked up many smaller ideas which I hope will be useful in the future. For example, I think it would be exciting to produce a monthly newspaper for MUSA, which we could display at the entrance to the museum. This could be a good vehicle for information about upcoming events and it could aim at younger audiences. As I already described I am hoping to use photos of case layout in the interpretation for temporary exhibitions and see how we can incorporate the ideas from the educational workshops in our own sessions.

One of the strongest elements of the exchange for me was the knowledge of our local guides. As an anthropologist, I found the information given by the guides very useful. I am currently a new entrant to the museum workforce and I hope the experiences I have had on the exchange to Latvia will be useful in my future career. I also believe the contacts I have made both in Scotland and in Latvia will be valuable. I would like to thank the Leonardo da Vinci programme for funding the project and making this valuable experience possible. I would also like to thank Archnetwork, who put so much effort into designing the programme and made the project a success. My last thank you is for our wonderful hosts in Latvia who were all so kind and from whom I learnt a great deal.