The Eastern border has risen from the ashes many times: Interactive maps showing centuries of changes and traces of bombings in a city. The same maps also show concretely the power of national identity and the years of tenacious reconstruction. These observations came to mind in Jelgava, Latvia.
The international cultural project CHERRY (Interreg Europe) organized a meeting of international working groups on 21-22 February 2025 in Jelgava. Jelgava is in the region of Zemgale. The old palace city can be reached in less than an hour by train from Riga, the capital of Latvia.
From the Regional Council of Kainuu, Finland, Project Coordinator Elina Keränen participated in the trip with a stakeholder, Henna Kettunen, Exhibition Manager at the Kainuu Museum.
In Jelgava, we admired not only the museums’ moving showcases and projections on different surfaces, but also the appreciative attitude towards the craft tradition.
Elina Keränen, on the other hand, described Kainuu’s preliminary plans and showed pictures of various cultural heritage sites such as local museums. These will be discussed with regional stakeholders during February.
The tall old church tower is the only building in Jelgava that was spared from the bombings of the Second World War. The tower was formerly the tower of the Holy Trinity Church.
An interesting exhibition has been created in the tower, with, for example, an interactive map, jewelry art reflected as a bracelet on the skin, and a fun multi-screen video overview of the history of fashion. The map illustratively shows the big changes that have come to the cityscape and building stock of Jelgava over the centuries.
The roof of the old church tower is built as a glass pyramid. The building’s repair work took a long time, and the tower opened to the public in 2010.
A tour of the premises of a business incubator and a technology school brought a perspective on the development of business and education. In the picture, one business owner talks about her Albertina Boutique store, whose idea is to offer multi-part clothes that enable the creation of outfits with fewer clothes. The clothes consider especially the needs of mothers and working women.
In this photo, we are visiting a technology-focused school, which also has renovated facilities for, for example, theater courses. The picture shows a “black box”, a space where students can use lights, sound, and sets to create theatrical performances or studio space. The school has a strong emphasis on technology: for example, self-made electric cars could be seen in the corridors.
The showcases move and are opened at the push of a button, and the stages of the building’s restoration work, for example, are projected onto the glass panels. You can also listen to the texts on the display cases, and the audio guide also has supplementary stories.
The Latvian Craft and Tradition Museum Austras Raksti and the streets of the old town were fascinating dives into history and the present day. Weaving on looms is also familiar to Finns.
More information
Interreg Europe CHERRY project official website
CHERRY project at the website of the Regional Council of Kainuu
