“To stand on the upper porch was to stand in the centre of the world: on three sides of the sky – across the Alaukst, whose shining level, though two kilometres away, appeared like a silver bowl to the gula just below the downstairs windows, across the Taun, whose marshy shore could have been described in “The Lake’s Daughter”, across the seven-island Inesi – a region of blue mountain hills spread out over tens of kilometres. The apparition was that there was no other place in the whole world so beautiful.”
L.Skalbe
The house, built in 1926, has been preserved in its original form. Since 1987, the Kārlis Skalbe Memorial Museum has been operating here. It invites everyone to spend some time in the world of fairy tales and poetry and enjoy the magnificent landscape of Piebalga. The memorial rooms are furnished with the Skalby family memorabilia and photographs, and tell the story of life in Saulrietai at that time.
The burial place of Kārlis, Lizete and Ilze Skalby in Vaktskalns offers an unforgettable view. The tomb is shaped like a boat with a sail floating in the wind, symbolizing the romantic line of Kārlis Skalbe’s work, and at the same time it is a symbol of the tragedy of the Skalby family.
Visitors can visit both the summer house “Saulrieti” and Skalbe’s family home “Incēni”.
Incēni
The small smithy is located today where Kārlis Skalbe was born on 7 November 1879 – by the roadside, surrounded by woods. Here the childhood and school years of the future poet pass, here the first poem published in a book “Pie jūras” (“By the Sea”, 1897, published 1898) was written, here a large part of the first collection of poems “Cietumnieka sapņi” (1902) was written.
ADMISSION FEE
Students 0,70 EUR
Adults 1,50 EUR
Guided tour of the museum: 1 group 3,00 EUR
Free of charge: For disabled persons, pre-school children, pupils of orphanages, boarding schools, special schools, specialised social care centres; for the teacher or tutor accompanying the group of pupils
Photos from the archives of Vecpiebalga TIC and “Orisāre”.