In our today’s article, we’re going to tell you about interesting places around Daugavpils. We’ll tell you about the ethnographic museum in the village of Slutiski and the nature park “Daugavas loki”.

Ethnographic Museum in the village of Slutiski

Slutiski is an ethnographic Old Believers village in the natural park “Daugavas loki” in Naujene Parish. The village was first mentioned in historical sources in 1785. Now it’s one of the most often visited places which is of cultural and historical value.

What you can see here?

In the village, you can see traditional Old Believers houses with facades, doors, cornices, and luxurious platbands on the windows. All buildings in the village are wooden houses which have either gable or hip roofs. All houses were built by Old Believers. Here, you can also visit the branch of Naujene Parish Regional Studies Museum – the ethnographic estate “Old Believers House” and learn about the culture and lifestyle of Old Believers.

Nature Park “Daugavas loki”

“Daugavas loki” or “Bend of the Daugava” is a nature park in Daugavpils and Kraslava regions in Latvia located on both sides of the Daugava River. The park was founded on February 25, 1990. The aim of the park is to preserve unique nature sites, cultural and historical values, and original landscapes in the ancient valley of the Daugava. The park covers territory of 12, 969 hectares (130 km²). In 2011 the park was added to the Latvian National List of the UNESCO World Heritage.

Nature sites

The most characteristic feature of the park is the difference in elevation which comprises up to 50 meters or more. For example, the place called Sargeliski is located 160 meters above the sea level, but the Daugava which is 840 meters away from this place flows at 90 meters above the sea level.  There are two largest precipices in Latvia on the park’s territory. One of them is Ververe Precipice which is 42 meters high. There are a lot of streams in the park. The largest one is one of the Daugava tributaries – Melnkalne. The park “Daugavas loki” has an extremely diverse flora. There are 696 species of plants registered; forests take up 38% of the whole park’s territory.

Historical sites

The nature park “Daugavas loki” is rich in cultural and historical sites. Juzefova, Sikele, and Sprukts Parishes, and Rozalisks Manor are located on the territory of the park. There are aslo two ancient settlements: Markovo and Vecracinsk. The Old Believers village Slutiski is the gem of the park. There are 23 archeological monuments in the park. In a small place called Vasargeliski, on the hill near the Daugava there is an observation tower which is 18 meters high. In Soviet times, there were some   gravel pits on this territory. However, after the park was established, no excavation is allowed here.

That’s the end of our article. If you decide to go the park, you’ll find a lot to see there.