Today (Tuesday) is a transit day, from Lithuania to Latvia, Vilnius to Riga. The distance is about 300km but we are making a couple of stops along the way which makes the trip about 400km instead (that's approximately 250 miles).
We left our hotel about 9:00am. Our first stop was a short one at the Hill of Crosses. This is in northern Lithuania, on one of the few hills we have seen so far. Just an aside - the thing that has surprised me the most so far about this Baltic region is how flat it is. I don't know why, but I expected it to be more hilly, or at least in places. The sheer number of trees definitely reminds me of home, but I miss the hills.
The origin of the placing of crosses here dates back to the mid-19th century, apparently. The hill has been and remains a major site of Catholic pilgrimage, and many of the crosses were originally placed as religious symbols. In 1918, with the collapse of the old political structure in Eastern Europe, Lithuania declared its independence. Now there were additional reasons to place crosses; as a way to pray for peace, to support their newly independent country, and to remember those lost in the Wars of Independence.
In the years after WWII, the number of crosses really began to grow. During the Soviet occupation, the hill was in jeopardy; many of the crosses were destroyed, multiple times. The Lithuanians continued to bring crosses, now also to demonstrate their allegiance to their identity, heritage, peaceful resistance, and of course religion. According to our guide, it now has over 200,000 crosses.
Our second stop was over the border into Latvia. Rundale Palace. The Duke of Courland (Biron) bought land in this area in 1735 as the site of a planned summer residence. The old medieval castle was demolished, and construction started on a new castle. In 1740, Biron fell out of grace and the work on the palace ended; it stood unfinished and empty until 1762 when Biron returned from exile. It was completed (note some of the stucco decorations - we saw these in St. Peter's & Paul's church in Lithuania).
The Duchy of Courland was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795. It was privately owned until the German occupation in WWI, when the German army put a hospital there. During the Latvian War of Independence the palace was seriously damaged. During succeeding years part of the palace housed a school and part was made into flats. After WWII, the palace became, of all things, a grain storehouse in addition to the school.
The Soviets began some attempts at restoration in 1965 and 1971. In 1972, the Rundale Palace Museum was established. Over succeeding years, restoration was fully funded by the state for a period of time, and with Latvia's restored independence by the state and private donations. Restoration was completed in 2015, and the Palace Museum is now a major tourist destination. And quite beautiful!
As usual, I can't include all of the pictures I took, but here are a representative sample!
Restored rooms:
And a few pictures of an unrestored room:
After Rundale, we got back on the road to Riga - and arrived just before 7:00pm. Checked into our hotel, and I admit to being pretty exhausted when I made it into the room.
We now have two complete days in Riga, so look for at least a couple of posts coming soon!
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