Jaunpils Castle

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The small but perfectly medieval Jaunpils Castle is unique in the fact that it has largely retained its original look since 1301, when it was founded by the master of the Livonian Order, Gotfried von Roga. It also offers a unique chance to dine and sleep in the rooms that saw kings and knights do the same before your great-grandparents were born.

For four centuries until the breakup of the Russian empire in 1917, it was the home of the German baron family von der Recke. Its walls remember a sword fight between Mathias von der Recke and Swedish king Charles IX. It was a friendly one, apparently, for which the king awarded the baron with a silver helmet and a sword.

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