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Founded: 14th centuryCategory: Castles and fortifications in Latvia
Historical period: State of the Teutonic Order (Latvia)
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Nurmuiža Castle walls date from the 14th century castle built by the Livonian Order. The castle was erected in the 16th-17th centuries, less as a fortification, more as an economic centre. At the same time a passable tower was built, too, in the 19th century decorated in the Empire style. In the centre of the castle there is a small yard. The windows of the main facade have ornamental sgraffito framings in mannerism. In the castle the building structure of a fortified castle is combined with details characteristic of classicism.
The castle was rebuilt both at the end of the 17th century and shortly before World War I (according to the project by the architect W. Bockslaff). Since the last reconstruction the building has retained interiors in neoclassicism, as well as mural and ceiling paintings.The complex of the manor represents buildings erected in the 17th-19th centuries when the manor belonged to the von Fircks. In the courtyard there is a memorial stone (1982) to the developers of the Latvian carriage horse breed.
At the castle there is a park that was started to lay out in the 17th century, with two ponds, chestnut tree lined pathways and about 22 exotic species of trees and shrubbery.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.