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The exhibition’s content is based on original objects from the Liepāja Museum collection, revealing the three facets of Liepāja’s development in the period: “Liepāja Manufactures,” “Innovative Liepāja,” and “Liepāja Manages.”

“Liepāja Manufactures” is dedicated to the city’s industrialization, opening new enterprises, and economic prosperity. “Innovative Liepāja” tells the story of new and progressive things, displaying inventions and architectural achievements that highlight the abilities and courage of Liepāja’s citizens and introduce innovations to modernize economic processes. “Liepāja Manages” presents Liepāja’s bustling daily life, diverse offers, crafts, and trade.

When creating the exhibition, the Liepāja Museum team tried to show more of the physical objects, as the museum has a lot of documents and photographs that would be of more interest to people who write books, but visitors who come to the museum want to see more of the tangible.

Therefore, the exhibition will present original historical evidence from more than 45 factories and 31 trading companies, such as “Böcker & Co,” the workshops of the Military Port, the Liepāja leather factory “Korona,” the Jāzeps Paškus candy factory, the bicycle factory “Līva,” JSC “Pluto,” “Hozias Mau,” JSC “A. Lippert,” and Joh. Elke Libau. The oldest exhibited object is the Liepāja city fire bell, which was cast in 1873 at the F. E. Harmsen Ironworks.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Liepāja grew from a small provincial town into a beautiful modern city with a developed international port, an ambitious railway junction, well-thought-out urban industrial planning, and a popular resort and recreational area.

The Liepāja–Romny railway, opened in 1876, connected the city with the extensive All-Russian railway network, improving overland traffic and expanding Liepāja’s connections with the Inner-Russian provinces. This not only resulted in the vast development of the economic sector but also contributed to a rapid increase in the population’s mobility, diversifying the city center and its cultural sphere.

“We can only guess what Liepāja would be like today if it had not experienced the Second World War and the Soviet occupation, but history is what it is. Today’s Liepāja is on its way to regaining its former glory,” said Dace Kārkla, Director of the Liepāja Museum, at the exhibition’s opening.

In his speech, Liepāja City Council Chairman Gunārs Ansiņš emphasized, “Liepāja was, is and, hopefully, will be an important economic center of the country.” He also noted that it is beautiful to think about the future, but it is equally important to go back to the past and appreciate what the people of Liepāja have done.

At the opening of the exhibition, the Liepāja Special Economic Zone Authority (Liepāja SEZ) presented a “small” gift to the Liepāja Museum collection – an environmental object once manufactured in Liepāja – cannon, a mortar with several bullets. The cannon, which weighs almost a ton and required powerful machinery to deliver it to the courtyard of the Liepāja Museum, has been cast and until now was located in the territory of JSC Liepājas Metalurgs.

“When we cleaned up the territory of Liepājas Metalurgs, there are things that we wanted to preserve and give to the Liepāja Museum. This cannon is a testament to the production capacity in Liepāja in the 1960s–1970s. We hope that in the future, the Liepāja SEZ Authority will have more interesting exhibits to give to the Liepāja Museum so that the people who will work in this building in 100 years will have something to take out of the collection and show what happened in the bustling Liepāja in the 21st century”, said Uldis Hmieļevskis, Liepāja SEZ Manager, at the opening of the exhibition.

The exhibition from the Liepāja Museum’s collection, “Bustling Liepāja,” will be on display at the Liepāja Museum, 16/18 Kūrmājas Avenue, until June 29, 2025.

Link to images (Kārlis Volkovskis): https://failiem.lv/u/48xzzaj6fr

More about the exhibition HERE.

Rasa Zālīte,
Liepāja Museum
Public Relations Specialist
Mob. +371 22333723
E-mail: rasa.zalite@liepaja.lv