The Rundale Palace is one of the most outstanding monuments of Baroque and Rococo art in Latvia. It was built between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence of Duke Ernst Johann of Courland.
The Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli designed Rundale Palace and supervised construction work.
The Italian masters from St. Petersburg Francesco Martini and Carlo Zucchi created paintings on the ceilings and walls while sculptor Johann Michael Graff from Berlin made stucco decorations on the background of artificial marble.
Many people owned Rundale Palace, but in 1933 the palace was taken over by the State Museum of History and some repairs were carried out there. The palace did not suffer damage during World War II but after the war some of its rooms were adapted for a granary. In 1972 the Rundale Palace Museum was founded and restoration of the palace began.
Together with the guide we visit the Rundale Palace including the Duchess' Apartments and French Garden.
After short break for lunch we head to Bauska Castle, located in Bauska town on the land strip between the rivers Musa and Memele, not far from the place where the rivers meet to form the river Lielupe.