Kurland Provincial Museum and Athenaeum () was Kurzeme Society of Literature and Art museum with library. It was founded in 1818 in Mitau (since 1917

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duch ...

), at that time the capital of

Courland Governorate The Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland (german: Kurländisches Gouvernement; russian: Курля́ндская губерния, translit=Kurljándskaja gubernija; lv, Kurzemes guberņa; lt, K ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

History

The museum was founded on August 6, 1818 as the Kurzeme Provincial Museum with a lecture club "Athenaeum". Among founding members of new society was

Johann Friedrich von Recke Johann Friedrich von Recke (1 August 176413 September 1846) was a senior public official in the Baltic Germans Duchy of Courland. He is remembered now, primarily, for his activities as an antiquarian and collector. Following his withdrawal fro ...

. The lectures were initially held on the premises of

Jelgava Gymnasium Jelgava Gymnasium or Academia Petrina is the oldest higher educational establishment in Latvia. Based on an idea by , it was established in Jelgava, Mitau, capital of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, by Duke Peter von Biron in 1775. The duke ...

, after 1820 on the second floor of the printing house on ''Kannulējēju'' (now ), where the first museum collection was created. Riga's architect

Wilhelm Neumann Carl Johann Wilhelm Neumann ( lv, Kārlis Johans Vilhelms Neimanis; russian: Карл Иоганн Вильгельм Нейман; born 5 October 1849 in Grevesmühlen – died 6 March 1919 in Riga) was a Baltic German architect and art histori ...

developed a project for a new museum building, which was built on the site of the demolished Jelgava Theater building in the former Stļļplacis (near the present ) and opened on November 26, 1898. The entrance portal of the house was decorated with the inscription in Latin "Science and Art". In 1916, was established in the museum hall. In 1935, the Latvian government confiscated the museum's collections and transferred the collections of the society and the museum's archives to the State Archives. During the emigration of the Baltic Germans on November 4, 1939, the Minister of Public Affairs of Latvia A. Bērziņš issued an order to liquidate the Kurzeme Literary and Art Society. Only the portraits in the museum hall were allowed to be removed from the values owned by the society, except for the portrait of Johann Reinhold Patkul and one work by Janis Rozentāls, as well as paintings by German authors, "

Academia Petrina Jelgava Gymnasium or Academia Petrina is the oldest higher educational establishment in Latvia. Based on an idea by , it was established in Mitau, capital of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, by Duke Peter von Biron in 1775. The duke wanted ...

" and later gymnasium professors, pastors, copper engravings the whole library. The whole department of archeology, ethnographic collections, department of natural sciences, portraits of the Dukes of Courland had to remain in Latvia. The museum's collections were transferred to the ownership of the State Historical Museum. After the

Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and its Secret Additional Protocol signed in A ...

, in the autumn of the same year the Kurland Provincial Museum building was handed over to the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

People's Commissariat of Education. During the Red Army's attack in the summer of 1944, the museum building was destroyed. Some of the funds had previously been evacuated to Germany, others had disappeared or perished.

Legacy

Nowadays, the heating unit of Uzvaras Street residential buildings and other buildings have been built in this place. Antiquities from the Kurzeme Provincial Museum have been kept by Ģ. Elias at the Jelgava Museum of History and Art.zudusilatvija.lv
/ref>

References

{{Coord, 56, 39, 00, N, 23, 44, 00, E, region:LV, display=title Buildings and structures in Jelgava 19th-century establishments in Latvia 1944 disestablishments in Latvia