On August 2-3, 2020 the project team of Turiba University visited the Suiti Cultural space as part of project dissemination and valorisation events.
On August 2, 2020, we participated at the regional ethnographic fair ‘Suitu tirgus’ where we disseminated the project.
On August 3, 2020, we visited Alsunga District Municipality, where we had a meeting with the mayor Dr. Daiga Kalnina. The mayor was introduced to our module about Suiti Cultural space and we listened to suggestions on how to improve it. Besides, we are thankful to the mayor for organising our visit at the NGO ‘Ethnic Cultural Centre “Suiti” where we could see the rich and interesting cultural heritage of the district.
Alsunga municipality is a municipality in Kurzeme, 180 km from Riga in the ancient Suiti area. As an ancient Alshwang, this settlement was first mentioned in 1231 in the treaty of the Pope’s vice-delegate Alna Balduin with the Curonians. The Livonian Order ruled there until 1561, but from 1573 to 1738 the castle of the Order belonged to the von Schwerin family from Pomerania. It was during the reign of the Schwerin family that a stone church was built in Alsunga in honour of St. Archangel Michael and the local population was converted to Catholicism. Alsunga became the Catholic centre of all Kurzeme, its inhabitants became Suits. Alsunga has been the centre of the historic Suiti district for almost 400 years. As the most conservative region of Latvia, it is widely known for its special songs, gorgeous folk costumes, and still living folk traditions and beliefs.
The module is available on the learning platform: http://e-culture.eu/
Prof. Ineta Luka
Turiba University
Project coordinator
