Dauderi

About the museum

The Dauderi house in Sarkandaugava was built in 1897–1898 as the villa of the family of Ādolfs fon Bingners, owner of the “Waldschlößchen” brewery. The brewery was founded in 1865 by Johans Dauders (Jānis Daude), the son of a Latvian peasant; from 1880 it was expanded by fon Bingners. The villa was built in German neo-Renaissance style to a design by Fritz Zeiberlich, by the firm of the engineer Roberts Heizermanis, and was surrounded by a landscape park with a pond.

From 1937 to 1940 the house was the residence of the State President Kārlis Ulmanis. The brewery buildings then became the base of “Aldara”, and the director’s villa was named Dauderi in honour of the company’s founder. After 1944 the building housed a kindergarten and an agitation point, and later the tasting and reception rooms of the Latvijas PSR Pārtikas rūpniecības ministrija (Ministry of the Food Industry of the Latvian SSR), which is why the historic interiors survived relatively intact.

A new chapter began in 1988, when the offer by the collector Gaids Graudiņš, a Latvian from exile, to donate his collection to Latvia was accepted, and the Dauderi house was chosen as its home. In the 1990s the Latvijas Kultūras muzejs “Dauderi” (Dauderi Museum of Latvian Culture) operated here; today the house is a department of the Latvian National Museum of History. The renewed exhibition shows the gentlemen’s room of the Bingner villa, Kārlis Ulmanis’s study and the story of the fate of Latvia’s cultural heritage in the 20th century.

Highlights

• The gentlemen’s room of the Bingner villa and Kārlis Ulmanis’s study
• The exhibition “(Ne)zūdošais mantojums” (“(Im)perishable Heritage”) on the fate of Latvia’s cultural-historical heritage
• Gaids Graudiņš’s collection and the Collector’s Study
• Historic villa in neo-Renaissance style
• The Dauderi garden

Permanent exhibitions

• Dauderu nama vēstures ekspozīcija – On the ground floor: the gentlemen’s room of the Bingner villa, Kārlis Ulmanis’s study, and the story of the house’s fate in Soviet times and its conversion into a museum.
• (Ne)zūdošais mantojums – On the first floor the exhibition tells of Latvia’s cultural-historical heritage that was destroyed, lost in war or taken into exile during the upheavals of the 20th century.

Founded

1990

Operated by

Latvijas Nacionālais vēstures muzejs

Admission & discounts

Free admission (on presentation of a document) for pre-school children, orphans and children without parental care, people with Group I and II disabilities and one accompanying person, students of history, art history and cultural heritage study programmes, the leader of a tour group, staff of Latvian museums, ICOM members, politically repressed persons, large families with an Honorary Family card and Ukrainian civilians.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: not available
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The house is partly accessible for wheelchair users: the central entrance door can be reached using a movable ramp, and arrival must be announced by the bell at the entrance. The garden and the ground-floor exhibition (the changing exhibition hall and three permanent exhibition rooms) are accessible. There is no accessible toilet for wheelchair users.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Families have discount tickets (1 or 2 adults with 1 or 2 children); educational sessions are available for schools.

Getting there & parking

The museum is about 7 km from the city centre.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

The museum shop sells books published by the museum, postcards, notepads and bookmarks.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties

Up to 250 guests.

The house’s Large Salon (40 m², up to 30 people) and the Dauderi garden (up to 30 or up to 250 people) can be rented.

Plan your visit