Exhibition “Tail-Wagging Companions. Teodors Zaļkalns’s Animal Sculptures” - Sigulda is irresistible!

Admission is only EUR 5.00 for the exhibition alone, or included with the regular Turaida Museum Reserve admission ticket for the exhibition and the permanent displays.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Teodors Zaļkalns, one of the most outstanding founders of Latvian professional sculpture, the exhibition hall of the Turaida Museum Reserve, in the manor steward’s former new residence, will host the exhibition “Tail-Wagging Companions. Teodors Zaļkalns’s Animal Sculptures” from 15 July to 30 November. The exhibition opens on 15 July at 3:00 p.m.

The exhibition was created through close cooperation between the Turaida Museum Reserve and the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) and offers an insight into the master’s remarkable animal depictions.

The exhibition “Tail-Wagging Companions. Teodors Zaļkalns’s Animal Sculptures” features nine animal sculptures by the artist from the LNMA collection. Highlighting this important direction in Zaļkalns’s work, the display includes pieces such as “Cat,” “Lamb,” “Hare,” “Mouse,” and several variations of Zaļkalns’s most recognizable animal portrayal, the pig.

The atmosphere of the exhibition will be enriched by the song “Grey Like in Slumber” from the Audio, Video and Digital Collection of the National Library of Latvia’s Museum of Literature and Music. The music was composed by Alfrēds Kalniņš, and the lyrics were written by sculptor Teodors Zaļkalns. The piece testifies to the friendship between these two great figures of Latvian culture.

Teodors Zaļkalns (1876–1972) is the founder of Latvian professional sculpture and a creator of the stone sculpture tradition, with a major influence on later generations of sculptors. He was born in Allaži parish, at “Zaļais kalns” (“Green Hill”). He studied in Riga and Saint Petersburg, as well as in Paris with the renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin. In the 1920s, Zaļkalns became one of the creators of the visual identity of the new Latvian state, taking part in major monument project competitions and creating works that still shape Latvia’s cultural landscape today. His sculptures have also been preserved in the Sigulda region and Turaida, including the memorial plaque for the Turaida Rose and the monuments to Atis Kronvalds, Krišjānis Barons, and Alfrēds Kalniņš, which attest to the artist’s close ties with this place.