"100 Relics of the History of Latvia"
Since May 18th until the end of year will be open the exhibition "100 Relics of the History of Latvia" curated by the National History Museum of Latvia.
The museum has its origins rooted in the ideals the First Awakening, it was founded in the year 1869 as the Museum the Science Committee of the Riga Latvian Society. During more than 140 years of existence, the museum name has been changed several times, but has not changed its main purpose of existence – in the interests of the nation and the Latvian country to collect, preserve, study and promote the Latvian and world’s immaterial and material cultural evidence from ancient times until the present day.
Today the Museum is the world's largest repository of Latvian history, there is stored more than one million of objects – testimonies of different eras of history that reflects Latvia and Latvian history since the first human settlement until today. Relic is an object associated with precious memories or important, significant evidence of past events. The exhibition "100 Latvian historic relics" is the story created by the museum to tell about the focal points of Latvian history. The exhibition includes objects as relics, which have certain importance in Latvian history, the importance of national, cultural and historical identity, which in a sense is primal and unique. Relics tell an important message for the entire nation or of emotionally important to single individual, to family.
The exhibition is an attempt to illustrate pages of Latvian history with items collected, investigated and preserved by the museum staff. There are items whose story is clear and well maintained, and there are those whose age held secrets and are still not unravel.
The value of many objects cannot be measured by any of the known methods because how to measured the patriotism, honesty, courage? As every family keeps its values, which price is manifested in ancestral life stories, the museum stores things that may not be of practical use, but that demonstrate the traditions and determination to defend the national identity and self-esteem. The exhibition is also a story of the courage of the museum staff: they once literally risked their lives rescuing and preserving from hostile powers unwanted evidences of national identity, immuring them in the walls of the Riga castle.
The rich heritage held by the Museum, is growing every day. Also the time in which we live, creates and will create new symbols. Therefore, 100 relics list will never be complete, nor finished, nor ready.
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