Exhibition “Meņģele and the Meņģele People” (Jun 5 – Aug 8)

The informative exhibition Meņģele and Its People was developed following an expedition by museum specialists to Meņģele parish in autumn 2019. During this fieldwork, a wide range of materials was collected both to supplement the museum’s collection and to form the basis of the exhibition. Extensive photographic documentation of local residents and cultural-historical sites was gathered. Local inhabitants were interviewed and filmed, including former Meņģele Museum director Anna Pētersone, photographer Vija Linka, Edgars Kalnriekstiņš (born in Siberia), and others whose memories and photographs preserve testimony to events in Meņģele.

Substantial material relating to Meņģele Manor was identified in the Latvian State Historical Archives. These records contain unique and valuable information that had not previously been published.

The exhibition is enhanced by a richly informative and visually engaging documentary film about Meņģele’s history, narrated by Andris Krauja, as well as by a virtual 3D relief map created by Gatis Kalniņš.

Visitors were invited to discover why Meņģele was formerly known as Altenwoga, to learn about the significance of the noble families Mengden and Schönvogels in the area’s development, and to find out which nobleman took part in the 1908 New York–Paris rally, becoming the first Baltic person to complete such a journey by car.