Rauna invites visitors to a exhibition hall in Plūme House and a castle ruins tower
Two cultural heritage sites are open to visitors in Rauna, Smiltene Municipality: an exhibition hall in the historic Plūme House and the medieval castle ruins viewing tower. The municipality presents them in a series on local places.
The Smiltene Municipality council, in the fourth part of its series "7 places where Smiltene Municipality's stories are kept", invites people to visit two cultural heritage sites in Rauna: an exhibition hall in the historic Plūme House and the viewing tower of the medieval Rauna castle ruins. They offer a look at the recent past as well as at how Rauna looked several centuries ago. The text was written by Līga Ozoliņa, deputy head of the council's Business and Tourism Department for tourism development.
An exhibition on meeting places
The exhibition hall of the Rauna Cultural and Historical Heritage Centre currently shows an exhibition on Rauna's cafés, pubs, clubs and other meeting places in the 1990s and early 2000s. It draws on photographs taken by residents, their memories and preserved records. The centre's collection is gradually growing with objects, documents, photographs and local recollections, and new exhibitions appear once or twice a year.
Locals call the building Plūme House, or the Bookshop. It was built in the second half of the 1920s by Rauna businessman Jānis Plūme. Shops, a hairdresser, a confectionery and a café-bar operated there, and from 1947 to 2001 it housed a bookshop. The house appears in the Riga Film Studio production "Dāvana vientuļai sievietei".
The castle ruins tower
A few minutes' walk away are the medieval Rauna castle ruins, described as among the most extensive and best preserved in Latvia. The castle was built in the second half of the 14th century and was one of the main residences of the Archbishop of Riga. The tower now has a viewing platform with a panoramic view of Rauna, while interactive displays and the exhibition "Archaeological finds of Rauna Castle" occupy its second and third floors. Visitors can listen to audio stories and use the augmented reality app "Overly" to see how the castle may once have looked.
Practical information
The exhibition hall is at Rīgas iela 2, next to Rauna library, and opens during library hours. Information is available by phone on 28728377 or by email at raunasmuzejs@smiltenesnovads.lv. The tower is open daily from 8:00 to 19:00; entry costs 1 euro, and is free for children and young people under 18. Payments are made through the "Mobilly" app.
