The square
Tiled houses.
Olga1969 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Olga1969 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Inārs Švarcs — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Inārs Švarcs — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ymblanter — CC BY-SA 4.0
Kuldiga Old Town is a small historic centre in western Latvia whose distinctive architecture is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Kuldiga was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Courland from 1596 to 1616, and it joined the Hanseatic League in 1368. The town is first mentioned in 1242, and the foundations of its oldest church, St Catherine's, were laid in 1252. The small Alekšupīte River runs through the old town right along the house walls, the only surviving ensemble of its kind from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Baltic states. Its 4.2-metre waterfall is the highest in Latvia. You see a cobbled square ringed by wooden and stone houses with red tiled roofs, and narrow streets of coloured houses. Willows bend over the little river between small stone bridges, and from the church tower the red roofs press together below. It is about a kilometre from Venta Rapid in a straight line, and it is free to explore.
Tiled houses.
Along the walls.
Over the water.
Central Kuldiga, Latvia
A 4.2-metre fall on the Alekšupīte in Kuldiga.
Yes, one of the two capitals of Courland from 1596 to 1616.
