The Largest Exhibition of Antique Telephones in Latvia

On the day the Ogre History and Art Museum opened Telephones in Vidzeme, the largest exhibition in Latvia dedicated to antique telephones, visitors had the special opportunity to attend a talk by Valdis Hofmarks on the origins of telephone use in Latvia and Vidzeme.

Telecommunications engineer and Doctor of Engineering Sciences Valdis Hofmarks has been collecting antique telephones for 35 years. His collection is the most extensive and significant in Latvia and offers a comprehensive overview of the history of telephones in the country. It includes 140 telephone sets, as well as photographs, technical literature and telephone directories. Valdis Hofmarks has been a member of the Swedish Telephone Collectors’ Association since 1999.

The exhibition Telephones in Vidzeme at the Ogre History and Art Museum featured nearly 80 wall-mounted and desk telephone types used in Latvia from approximately 1895 until the end of the Second World War. The majority of the exhibits came from Valdis Hofmarks’ collection, with a small number of items drawn from the museum’s own holdings.