Liepāja Museum Offers Schoolchildren Three New Museum Education Classes

The Liepāja Museum in western Latvia and its branches are offering schoolchildren three new museum education classes that combine historical research with creative workshops. The topics are historical writing and calligraphy, the history of wallpaper and ornament, and the changes the Second World War brought to Liepāja's urban environment. All three classes are part of the cultural education programme “Latvijas skolas soma” (Latvia's School Satchel).

Historical writing and calligraphy

At the Liepāja Museum, at Kūrmājas prospekts 16/18, pupils can take the class “Old Orthography and Calligraphy in Latvian”. Using documents and books from the museum's collection, they will learn about writing culture and penmanship traditions of the 19th century. They will study historical handwriting samples and the development of writing tools, as well as how softened consonants and letter joins were shown in old writing. In the creative part, pupils will write with ink and, using 19th-century school penmanship materials, learn basic calligraphy strokes, form letters and join them into words.

History of wallpaper

The Liepāja 17th–19th Century Interior Museum, “Hoijere's Guest House”, offers the class “The History of Wallpaper and Floral Motifs in 19th-Century Wallpapers”. In the Stender family apartment, the museum's 19th-century exhibition, pupils will view a wallpaper collection and learn about how wallpaper was made, the range of materials and the technologies used. The class will also cover how industrial development made wallpaper more affordable for the wider public. In the creative part, participants will design ornaments, try making printing blocks and create their own wallpaper fragment.

Wartime damage in Liepāja

The Liepāja Occupation Museum invites pupils to the class “The First Destruction of the Second World War in Liepāja”. Using photographs from the Liepāja Museum collection and materials from the Occupation Museum's exhibition, pupils will learn about the city before the war and how fighting between 22 and 29 June 1941 changed its buildings. By comparing images of the city during the Soviet occupation and today, they will work out what has survived, what has been lost and what appeared later.

Registration

More information and registration are available by phone at 29 605 223 or by email at inga.ziverte@liepaja.lv.