Bauska Castle Museum
Livonian Order fortress ruins and a restored ducal palace above the meeting of the Mūsa and Mēmele.
The Livonian Order began the fortress on a narrow peninsula between the Mūsa and Mēmele rivers in 1443, under Master Heidenreich Vincke von Overberg, to hold Semigallia and watch the Lithuanian border. It was among the last Order castles raised in Livonia and was designed for artillery, with walls up to three and a half metres thick. After the Order collapsed the site passed to the dukes of Courland, and a mannerist residential palace with decorative sgraffito was added on the western side between about 1590 and 1599.
Russian troops blew up the complex in 1706 during the Great Northern War and it lay ruined for well over a century. Archaeological work and restoration from the 1970s onwards rebuilt the ducal palace, which now houses the museum's displays on the castle's history, the dress and ornaments of the Duchy of Courland and the fortress as a military work. Visitors can walk the ruined outer castle, climb the tower for views over the rivers, and see restored ducal rooms, the great hall and the cellars.
Highlights
- Rare Livonian Order castle designed from the start for cannon
- Restored mannerist ducal palace of the 1590s with sgraffito
- Tower viewing platform over the Mūsa and Mēmele rivers
- Displays on dress and ornament in the Duchy of Courland
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