Muzejs muzejā
Museum in a Museum

Summary/Abstract: On 24 May 2012 a poster ‘From the Gothic Style to Art Nouveau’ appeared in the west-side staircase vestibule of Rundāle Palace, next to the entrance door to the west-side block. Behind that door, a quite dark and mysterious world opens up, very different to the light and playful environment of the Palace designed by Rastrelli. Museum staff have named this new exposition rather conventionally – DEKO. Decorative arts are always placed behind their nobler sisters as the fine arts are thought to top the hierarchy. Nevertheless, decorative arts have been most closely related to people’s daily life. In Latvia, much evidence of our cultural history has perished as a result of wars, revolutions and social transformations. Not all European countries have a special museum of decorative arts, but in Latvia the chance to see close-up examples of canonical historical styles is even more limited. Already in the 1960s there was the idea to create a chronologically and stylistically arranged exposition of decorative arts in the Rundāle Palace Museum. Besides purchases from antique shops and loans from other museums in Latvia, another way to enrich the collections was taking over items from the churches of Latvia; their tragic fate in the conditions of Soviet occupation became even worse after the ideological action of 1961 when congregations were liquidated. Apart from wood-carved altars, pulpits, benches, sculptures, altarpieces and votive plaques, the Museum also received many silver and tin items, and they did fit well with the idea of a future exposition of decorative arts. Besides churches, the Museum also systematically inspected manor houses. Much was salvaged from these too at the last moment – stoves, doors, parquetry, decorative reliefs or metalwork fittings. Already then it was evident that all this should be part of the future exposition. The DEKO exposition envisages demonstrating all historical styles from the 15th century till World War I in fourteen rooms, beginning with late Gothic and ending with Art Nouveau and Neo-Classicism. The idea is to show both the major line of stylistic development in Western Europe and the reflection of these styles in Latvia.

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