Permanent exhibition of the Seaside Open-Air Museum in Ventspils
2024

The Seaside Open-Air Museum is a branch of the Ventspils Museum, it features a wide ethnographic collection that tells about the lifestyle of people of Northern Kurzeme from the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. In 2024, the museum's indoor exhibition has moved to a new building constructed especially for its needs and has acquired a new look. Here, visitors can learn about the culture and nature of the Northern Kurzeme region, traditional forms of livelihood - fishing, agriculture, handcrafts, and forestry, as well as the life of the local people during the Soviet era.

The new permanent exposition is displayed on two floors. The exposition of the main hall is structured as a rural landscape, which visitors perceive upon entering the hall. Only little by little, walking deeper into the scenery of the exhibition, the many aspects of the life of the inhabitants of North Kurzeme are revealed to them. The exhibition focuses on the authentic objects from the museum collection, but with the help of multimedia, their context and place in people's everyday life is disclosed. On the second floor, the exposition represents the forests of Northern Kurzeme - both their animal kingdom and the people who have cultivated these forests for centuries. A new multimedia app has been created for both indoor and outdoor exhibitions, where visitors can learn more about some of the most interesting exhibits. The app can be downloaded to personal mobile devices during the museum visit.