Exhibition “Meņģele and the Meņģele People” (June 5 – August 8)

The informative exhibition “Meņģele and its People” was developed after museum specialists embarked on an expedition to Meņģele parish in the autumn of 2019. Various materials were collected both for supplementing the museum’s collection and for creating the exhibition. During their travels through Meņģele parish, extensive photographic material was gathered about local residents and cultural-historical monuments. 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 testimonies of events in Meņģele.

Extensive material about Meņģele Manor has been identified in the Latvian State Historical Archives, which contains unique, valuable information that has not been published until now.

The exhibition is made attractive and contemporary by an informationally rich and scenic video film about Meņģele’s history, narrated by Andris Krauja, as well as a virtual 3D relief map created by Gatis Kalniņš.

The exhibition offered an opportunity to discover why Meņģele was formerly known as Altenwoga, the significance of the noble families Mengden and Schönvogels in the area’s development, and which nobleman participated in the 1908 New York-Paris rally, becoming the first Baltic person to complete such a car journey.