On March 24 will be opening ceremony of the Liepaja harbour warehouse

On March 24, 2017, at 14.00 will be the opening ceremony of the restored Liepaja harbour warehouse “Swallow”.  The 1st floor will be exposition of open collection - museums restored and preserved chests and wardrobes from all of Latvia. 2nd and 3rd floor will be used as museum repository, which will be closed for visitors, there, in safe environment, will be stored different historical and traditional wooden objects, related to crafts, fishing, farming and everyday life. For public the warehouse will be opened from the 1st May, 2017, when will take place the opening of Summer season in the Museum.

The building was built in 1697 in a row of warehouses, on the edge of Liepāja’s harbour canal, where each building had its own, unambiguous symbol, this warehouse was known to locals and foreigners as “the swallow”. In 1940, it was transferred to the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia in Riga.  As a town building, its foundations were of boulders set in lime mortar, adapted to the height of a freight cart.

The warehouse is made of squared, side-dressed logs, whose ends are laid into grooved oak uprights. The buildings gables and roof extension — a mezzanine, is a half-timbered (wattle and daub) construction. The steep roof is covered with the so-called Dutch clay tiles. The door lintels of all six ground floor doors have been constructed as sturdy and elegant arches, and shutters have skilfully forged hinges. In the middle of the building is a diagonal hallway with red brick tiled floor, and the other rooms have wide wooden floorboards. Wooden staircases lead to the second and third floor, and there would originally have been pulley and block systems in the roof structure, for hoisting up goods.

On December 2013 The Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia made an agreement with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia about the project NR.EEZLV04 / INP / 2013/4 "Restoration of the harbor warehouse in the exhibition of the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia” about project implementation within the EEA Financial Mechanism Norwegian Financial Mechanism program “Conservation and Revitalization of Cultural and Natural heritage”. In 2016 the Harbour warehouse was restored. Restoration project author - Kristine Veinberga, work team - SIA “Varss+” and Open-air museum restorers.