Kuldīga Castle Guard’s House

The Great Northern War began in 1700. In 1701, as the fighting approached Courland, the Regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, and later Duke, Ferdinand Kettler, ordered that luxury items, furniture, tapestries, and other valuables be removed from Kuldīga Castle in eighteen large wagonloads. Thereafter, the castle was occupied in turn by Swedish and Russian troops, who plundered whatever possessions remained. After the Great Northern War, the castle was no longer inhabited, and consequently no maintenance or repairs were carried out. Over time, it gradually fell into ruin. At the end of the 18th century, the district governor granted permission for the castle ruins to be used as a quarry, and local residents actively dismantled them. Stones taken from the castle were used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries both for the construction of buildings in Kuldīga and were transported to other locations. By the mid-19th century, almost nothing remained of the once-mighty castle.

After the Great Northern War, the castle’s only resident was its watchman. The last castle watchman, Bofemēls, is said to have complained to the Duke about his partly ruined dwelling within the castle and requested permission to use stones from the castle walls to build himself a new house in its courtyard. Permission was granted, and by 1735 the new watchman’s house had been completed.

Like many typical 18th-century buildings, the centre of the Castle Watchman’s House features a smoke hood chimney (mantel chimney), which originally served as the main hearth. The building has entrances from both the street and the courtyard, allowing passage through the structure via the chimney hall. When the stoves are heated, the smoke first enters the hood chimney before escaping into the open air through an opening at the top.

Although timber remained the principal building material throughout the 18th century, a number of masonry buildings were also constructed. The Castle Watchman’s House at 4 Pils Street is a typical example of an 18th-century masonry dwelling.

In the 1930s, the small house was unoccupied, and residents of nearby homes used it for boiling water and washing laundry. In local conversation, the building acquired the somewhat ominous name The Executioner’s House. This designation may have originated from the fact that the commandery’s place of punishment was once located here. In the post-war years, the building was saved from destruction thanks to the efforts of teachers and students of the Kuldīga School of Applied Arts, who drew attention to its historical value and sought funding for its restoration. The house subsequently came under the care of the Kuldīga Museum. An exhibition was installed on the ground floor, while museum staff lived upstairs and a weaving group also operated there. Later, both floors were used to store the museum’s collections. Following the restoration of Latvia’s independence, ownership of the building changed, and the museum was required to vacate the premises.

The building is a State-Protected Architectural Monument of National Significance.

The building can be viewed from the exterior only.