Interesting Latvian Sculpture Parks Worth Visiting

If you are driving in the direction of Daugavpils, you can't miss a stop at the Līksna Manor park. Why? It's interesting, unique and extremely entertaining for people both big and small.

There has been a leisure trail in the park for a while now, but the park is updated and freshened up every so often, inviting you to look at it anew. What can you see here? There is no lack of interesting attractions, as the park has several trails which take you on different adventures.

Latvian writer Viktor Kalniņš, known as Viks, has entertained us with many works over the years, including children's literature. We can take a walk with the heroes of these stories at the Viks Story Park in Kocēni county.

At the story park, anyone is invited to get to know the characters from Viks' stories, who are reenacting scenes from the books. The main theme of the park is promoting imagination, as well as introducing children to the stories. As you walk along the well-kept paths, you will encounter several wooden sculptures as well as descriptions.

Meanwhile, after a short walk, you can rest at the picnic area while the kids go and play at the playground, which includes not just the usual slide and swings, but also an outdoor gym.

The Skaņaiskalns Nature Trail is in Mazsalaca. It is an amazingly beautiful place with forested cliffs and the River Salaca, as well as some significant additions to the nature trail.

There is no lack of interesting objects here. This includes natural features like the Vilkači Pine, the view of the river, many cliffs, and of course Skaņaiskalns (which translates as Sound Hill, named for its echoes). However, the park also contains many interesting man-made objects—steps, viewing platforms and plenty of sculptures which are interesting to both children and adults.

In Aglona county, very close to the Aglona Basilica, is a unique sculpture park which will certainly surprise you—the King's Hill of Christ.
As King's Hill of Christ Board Member Ģirts Skuja told Tūrisma Gids, the idea for this sculpture park came from Ēriks Delpers, while it was built by Jānis Stupāns and other volunteers.

The park slowly started forming in 2006, and now there are a considerable number of sculptures over 20 hectares—according to Skuja, over 400. The park was created in thanks to God and Jesus Christ as a spiritual place for people to draw divine inspiration.

In Gulbene county, on the edge of the Litene - Alūksne road (1st kilometer), a glass bottle more than two metres tall shows the way to the Ainaži house. There, glass bottles have become outdoor sculptures, including not only interesting and unusual figures, but also useful household objects. You will find things made of bottles such as a tree, sailboat, bridges, a hedgehog, a bee hive and a fir tree, as well as many other things.

At first, the owners built useful objects such as a picnic table made of beer bottles and a workshop wall made of vodka bottles. Later, they came up with the idea of building sculptures to entertain guests.

The garden of Lejnieki, Skaidrīte and Haralds Bauze's farm, is located on the banks of the River Bērze. It is often called unusual, because you can not only view the tree of mittens knitted by Skaidrīte, but also discover plants and flowers untypical of Latvia, taste berries you haven't eaten before, and view kitschy wooden sculptures. This comes according to the Dobele Tourist Information Centre.

Skaidrīte's passion is knitting mittens, while Haralds spends the winter carving different images out of wood. He is not a trained artist, rather carving what he finds interesting. In the summer, the sculptures are carried into the garden, adding to its beauty. Visitors will discover a magnificent flower fairy, Latvian heroes Lāčplēsis and Lielais Kristaps, a dancing couple, and animals. The pyramid was also built by Haralds. The owners state that the garden gives you energy, and even the plants grow superbly.

If you want to have fun and discover a place which has been nurtured over many years, it's worth heading to Beverīna county to see the wooden sculpture park Beverīna Labyrinths. What can you see there?

The wooden sculpture park is constantly developing and currently displays over 370 wooden sculptures as well as other attractions. The park is on the Valmiera-Smiltene motorway in Beverīna county, Bernguļi parish.

Beverīna Labyrinths is a great destination for spending time outdoors, as the sculptures are spread out over 3.5 hectares. You will find the Simpson family, the Minions, My Little Pony characters, and other sculptures which are certainly not boring! The park has five different labyrinths as well as more than 60 different large format games and attractions, explains park representative Inta Jākabsone.