Jelgava Palace

Easily the most talked about attraction in the city is the elegant Jelgava Palace. Nestled between the Driksa and Lielupe rivers on an island, it’s quite an impressive sight. That’s thanks to its late Baroque design, which was receiving some restoration work when I was there.

There were several earlier castles built here, starting with a wooden castle for the Livonian Order in 1265. However, this palace was built by the Duke of Courland in 1771 and later became the governor’s residence when the Russian Empire invaded. In the following years it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, with the most recent major renovation in 1961.

It now hosts a museum detailing the history of the various castles and palaces that have stood here. There’s also meant to be an exhibit on the crypts of the Dukes of Courland. But I got to see none of this. I never found the museums while walking through its corridors, unsure whether I was allowed in. Maybe it was due to the restoration work that I couldn’t find the way in. Regardless, I still saw the palace facade and wandered through the surrounding gardens.