Turaida Castle

A reconstructed castle modeled after the 13th-century original. From the keep you have a great view of the surrounding forests and the Gauja. There is also a small park adjacent to the castle.

Treyden Castle is the ruin of a bishop's castle of the Archbishopric of Riga, which served as the Livonian Order's castle for several decades. It was built on a high ridge on the edge of the Gauja Valley in the Turaida district of the Latvian district of Sigulda.The castle forms a remarkable contrast to the strictly monastery-like castles of the Livonian Order with their striking convent buildings and rectangular castle walls, and instead resembles the Wartburg near Eisenach in both its structure and its unusually elongated shape.

The history of the development of the historical centre of Turaida is more than a thousand years long. The events that took place here are closely connected with the events of Latvian and European history.From about the 11th century, a Livonian settlement was located on the Gauja River in Turaida. Their everyday life was closely connected to the rhythm of nature. The name "Turaida" comes from the Livonian language, which belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, and poetically means "God's Garden".At the beginning of the 13th century, the wooden castle of the Livonian ruler Kaupo was located on the Turaida hill. When the castle was destroyed by fire in 1214, the Riga bishop Albert ordered a stone castle to be built there. After that, Turaida became the seat of the Riga rulers - the archbishops.