Rothko Museum
Original Mark Rothko paintings and contemporary art inside the 1833 arsenal of Daugavpils Fortress.
Mark Rothko was born in 1903 in Dvinsk, now Daugavpils, and left for the United States as a child. The museum named after him opened in 2013 in the artillery arsenal of Daugavpils Fortress, a classicist building of 1833 within the only surviving bastion-type stronghold in Northern Europe. The conversion kept the long brick shell and vaulted spaces while inserting climate-controlled galleries, giving more than 2,500 square metres of display area. It is the only place in eastern Europe showing original works by Rothko.
The Rothko rooms are lent by the artist's family and are shown in a darkened, contemplative setting; the rest of the building carries a large collection of contemporary painting, ceramics and photography built up through the international symposia the museum has hosted since the 1990s. There is a reading room, a residency wing, a café in the arsenal and a shop. Martinsons House, opened alongside in 2022, holds ceramics by Pēteris Martinsons and further temporary exhibitions.
Highlights
- Original Rothko canvases lent by the artist's family
- Classicist 1833 artillery arsenal inside Daugavpils Fortress
- Collection of contemporary art from decades of international symposia
- Martinsons House ceramics displays next door
