Feature articles about this place
About place
Palace The Gilt Hall, the White Hall, and the Great Gallery—the representation rooms in the eastern wing of the palace—are open to the public. The Duke's suite, complete with private rooms and reception parlours, is in the central block, and the Duchess's suite, complete with rooms, is in the eastern block.
Museum The Rundle Palace Museum creates collections, organizes exhibitions, and produces publications to serve as a hub for historical research in Latvia.
Exhibits of applied art, fine art, and historical works are on display in the exhibition halls. The Early Music Festival and classical music recitals are held in the palace.
Park The regular park in the French style is open to the public and features a rose garden, a green theater, ornamental parterres, and a fountain. The Garden Festival takes place in the park in the summer.
The French garden, an elaborate architectural framework constructed of green plantings meant to demonstrate the triumph of art over nature, is essential to any Baroque palace. Bartolomeo Rastrelli collaborated on the design of the park and the palace, which extends south of it. The palace and the stables are encircled by an artificial canal that runs around the park. Rastrelli has managed to fill Rundle's formal garden, which is only 10 ha in size, with an intricate maze of allées, cross paths, pergolas, and bosquets.
Rose garden The bosquets have a rose garden that is almost one hectare in size and runs along both sides of the parterres. From the beginning of the 18th century to the present, rose cultivation in Europe has been reflected in the garden.
Green amphitheatre Following Rastrelli's original design and the remaining relief shapes, a "green amphitheatre" has been constructed in one of the bosquets. On July 11, 2004, the performance of Georg Friedrich Händel's Rinaldo marked the opening of the venue.
Wellsprings
Before the royal residence, Rastrelli's plan conceived three wellsprings which didn't work in the eighteenth hundred years; They were replaced by water basins. Four ornamental parterres, reconstructed to Rastrelli's design and containing lawn and trimmed boxwood hedging, surround the central pool. The surfaces are covered in white marble and brick chips.