HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

The origins of the Aizpute Museum can be traced back to the 1930s, when the painter JĀNIS AUDRIŅŠ came to Aizpute and in 1932 began working as a teacher at the Aizpute State Gymnasium - the current museum building. He was interested in the history of the small town Aizpute and the finds of antiquities in the nearby ancient cemeteries in the vicinity of Ormaņkalns. He was the one who came up with the idea of creating a storage-museum of antiquities in Aizpute. J. Audriņš turned to the then Mayor - Jānis Jirgensons, who supported this idea. The decision of the Town Council to establish the Aizpute Museum was made on April 6, 1936, but the opening of the museum took place 7 months later - on November 21. It was opened by the Minister of Education, Professor Augusts Tentelis, on the day when 110 teachers from Aizpute District had attended the meeting in Aizpute. At the opening of the museum, A. Tentelis said the following wise words:

"It is nice that people think about their history and our homeland in a corner of Latvia. It is my pleasure to open this museum. Make sure that the local people can come and proudly learn about the past of their nation".

At that time, the museum was located in 3 small rooms on the 2nd floor of the Town Hall at 19 Atmodas Street. J. Audriņš was greatly assisted in the creation of the museum by his high school students and the Aizpute Guard Regiment. The creation of the museum was also supported by the Headmaster of Aizpute Gymnasium - historian - Pauls Pakalniņš.

According to the memories of Rota Saveljeva, a student of the gymnasium at that time, the first room contained trophies from the First World War, as well as old tools and household utensils. In the second room - clothes, folk costumes, handicrafts, ancient jewelry found in the excavations. In the third - paintings: both by Audriņš himself and by other painters.

The inhabitants of Aizpute were very interested in collecting antiquities, therefore soon the exhibits in the three small rooms allocated for the museum became narrow, therefore J. Audriņš proposed to move the museum to the old Order Castle.

Soon - in 1938/1939, eight rooms in the southern wing of the castle began to be managed by the museum. The museum's collection at that time had a small collection of works of art and books. Among the exhibits, the most valuable was the first edition of the Bible translated by Glück, but the heaviest exhibit was a 17th century cannon.

However, already in 1946, an invitation was published in the Aizpute District newspaper "Jaunais ceļš" (The New Way) to start collecting antiques again for the Aizpute Museum. The museum was opened in 1949 in the Aizpute Order Castle and its creator was again a painter - this time KĀRLIS BALDONIS from Kalvene.

In 1950, VOLDEMĀRS BLOKS became the Director of the Museum. At that time, the museum materials were arranged in 6 rooms, a separate room was for the processing of exhibits (collection) and a photo laboratory. The number of exhibits was more than 2 thousand. A public Council of the Museum was established, which planned the work of the museum. Cooperation also developed with the Nature Museum in Riga and the secondary school history group.

After V. Bloks, the management of the museum was taken over by LILIJA POZILEKA in the autumn of 1951, but after her - E. RĒDLIHS in 1954.

Although the museum had every opportunity to develop, it was closed because some of the leading officials of the Aizpute District felt that the salary of the museum Director, which at that time was 600 Rubles, was money thrown away. On November 4, 1952, the museum was closed by the decision of the Executive Committee of Peoples Deputy Council of Aizpute District. The exhibits collected by the museum are again transferred to the museums of Kuldīga and Liepāja.

On July 22, 1975, the museum resumed its activities under the auspices of the Liepāja District Society for the Protection of Nature and Monuments as a public museum. The Head of the Museum was HENRIHS BETHERS. The museum operated as a public museum until 1989.

By the decision No. 52 of the Aizpute Town Council of April 6, 1993, the Aizpute Local History Museum was established in Aizpute as a municipal museum. The initiator of the museum was the Council Deputy Dzintra Smiltina. Until 1999, it was housed in two rooms at 10 Kuldīgas Street. The Head of the Museum was DINA KOPŠTĀLE. The museum's exposition featured ancient tools, household items and photos.

In 1999, the Aizpute Council delegated also the functions of the Aizpute Tourism Information Center to the museum, therefore on September 15, 1999 the Aizpute Local History Museum moved to new and larger premises in the New Castle Manor building at 1 Skolas Street. JOLANTA BERGA started working as the Head of the Aizpute Local History Museum. The opening of the museum's exposition in the newly acquired premises took place on June 29, 2001, but in July 2002 the museum underwent the accreditation process as the first museum of Liepāja District Council, obtaining the status of an accredited museum. The museum was re-accredited in 2007 and 2012.

In 2015, implementing the project submitted to the European Agricultural Fund in the activity "Preservation and Restoration of Rural Heritage", a part of the basement premises of the building was reconstructed and the museum's permanent exposition "Ancient Rural Craft Skills" was displayed there.

The total area of the museum premises is 854 m2, visitors can see 8 permanent expositions and art and thematic exhibitions displayed in the exhibition hall. The total number of stock items - over 13 thousand.