Rundale
Entrance to the Rundale Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Courland.
Rundāle Palace (Latvian: Rundāles pils; German: Schloss Ruhental, formerly also Ruhenthal and Ruhendahl) is the most important baroque palace in Latvia, situated at Pilsrundāle, 12 km ( 7 miles ) west of Bauska. It was constructed in the 1730s to a design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli as a summer residence of Ernst Johann von Biron, the duke of Courland. Following Biron's fall from grace, the palace stood empty until the 1760s, when Rastrelli returned to complete its interior decoration.
support buildings
After Courland was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795, Catherine the Great
presented the palace to her lover, Prince Zubov, who spent his declining years
there. His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz, a local landowner's daughter,
remarried Count Shuvalov, thus bringing the palace to the Shuvalov family, with
whom it remained until the Russian Revolution of 1917.
the Palace
The palace is one of the major tourist destinations in Latvia. It is also used for the accommodation of notable guests, such as the leaders of foreign nations. The palace and the surrounding gardens are now a museum.
Text from Wikipedia
the gardens
grouting the tile in the fountain
garden pavilion
Palace as seen from the garden
dogs with muzzles allowed
if they pick up after themselves
workers cottage
the well
new and older means of drawing water
three tone car
where the common people live
