CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPE Cultural landscape is human-created landscape under the impact of biotic and abiotic factors that reflects the level of material development along with the social and cultural evolutionary changes. The notion of cultural landscape is closely related to the notion of cultural environment. The “cultural environment” covers a wider meaning and includes phenomena of both material and non -material culture, focusing on their social aspects. Artistic The concept of cultural environment environment comprises numerous aspects, including: Confessional environment Ethical environment Country-side environment Urban Political environment environment Industrial environment 2 AESTHETIC VALUE OF ENVIRONMENT Conceptual framework of cultural environment recognizes elements of landscape as the basis for the expression of material and non-material culture A landscape with terrain and plant diversity will be much more valuable than a landscape without emotionally arousing components Vilhelms Purvīts “ Floodwaters in March ”, 1910. 3 COMPONENTS OF CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT AND THEIR INFLUENCE Geological The important factors in the cultural environment Geographical landscape are its components: environment Flora Fauna People appreciate a virgin landscape, typical of a certain region and evolving naturally, from the aesthetic perspective; it creatively affects an individual’s criteria of values and is mirrored in thinking and artistic reflection Observation of a virgin environment or part of it through fine arts or music transforms it into an emotional and intellectual spiritual experience, motivating individual to regard nature with consideration and responsibility 4 Seja’s oak Second largest in Baltic's Perimeter: 9,1 m Height: 23,5 m Projection of crown: 250 m 2 Length of branches: up to 14,0 m Age: 450 years; planted possibly at 1567 Largest trees in Latvia Standard for largest trees in Latvia Latvian/English Latin Perimeter, m Height, m Apse/aspen tree Populus tremula L. 3,5 35 Baltalksnis/white alder Alnus incana (L.) Moench 1,6 25 Bērzs/birch tree Betula pendula 3,0 33 Egle/spruce Picea abies (L.) Karst. 3,0 37 Parast ā goba/elm Ulmus glabra Huds. 4,0 28 Parast ā ieva/bird cherry tree Padus avium Mill. 1,7 22 Parast ā k ļava/maple Acer platanoides L. 3,5 27 Parast ā liepa/lime tree Tilia cordata Mill. 4,0 33 Parast ā v īksna/flattering elm Ulmus laevis Pall. 4,0 30 Melnalksnis/black alder Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. 3,0 30 Parastais osis/ash-tree Fraxinus excelsior L. 4,0 34 Parastais ozols/oak Quercus robur L. 5,0 32 Parastais sk ābardis/hornbeam Carpinus betulus L. 1,9 20 Parastais p īlādzis/rowan-tree Sorbus aucuparia L. 1,7 21 Parast ā priede/pine-tree Pinus sylvestris L. 3,0 38 Largest trees in Latvia Aizputes dižsk ābardis Sasmakas Elku liepa Hornbeam 4,72 m Lime-tree 8,05 m Most prominent culturalcultural--historicalhistorical stones in LatviaLatvia Most prominent cultural-historical stones in Latvia ”Īvānu” Devil stone “Bestes” miles stone “Abavmuižas” cross stone ESTIMATION OF THE AESTHETIC QUALITIES The estimation of the aesthetic qualities of a landscape in material terms can be illustrated by the taxation of real estate, when the price of land is converted into a monetary equivalent according to a scale of certain criteria. Landscape whose monotony is interrupted by at least a single natural element – a stone, a tree, a hill or a lake – will be awarded a higher taxation value. a wild plain A monotonous landscape devoid of artistic or aesthetic natural Elements will be awarded the smallest endless grassy open number of points as: space forest or a similar homogeneous biotope 11 DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Until the 21 st century, Central European cultural environment developed under the influence of agrarian and industrial economy. Only the territories of marshlands and wetlands, unsuitable for farming, were devoid of economic activities. These territories have now rapidly decreased or even disappeared due to intensive industrialisation, road building and urbanisation. The notion of “cultural landscape” denotes a human-transformed natural environment which includes diverse footprints of human activity. 12 INTERACTION BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT On the threshold of the second millennium anno Domini, European economy had created preconditions for decoupling crafts from agriculture. Urban lifestyle : Merchants : - formation of complex, socially - link between the countryside and the stratified administrative, religious and towns by buying agricultural products, craft structures; shipping them to towns and ports; - social roles of the stratified society - exchange of goods and expansion of reflected in construction, fashion, trade; behaviour and the culture of human - faster turnover of cultural interaction. achievements both in towns and rural areas. Rural lifestyle: - individual farmsteads or poorly developed rural community centres; - patriarchal economy; - archaic traditions of domestic life. 13 CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN LATVIA An essential quality of the rural environment is the aesthetically attractive placement of dispersed farmsteads in the landscape - at a river or a lake, on an elevation, nested at a forest, surrounded by fields and meadows. The rural environment is characterised by such elements: roads farmsteads hill forts churches manor houses cemeteries schools bridges mills ancient inns Characteristic Latvian rural landscape 14 CASTLE MOUNDS The surviving witnesses of the heathen period in the Baltic cultural landscape are the of the ancient tribes of the Balts. The mounds give evidence of the transformed terrain, the banked or levelled-o. terraces, the steep slopes, water barriers adjusted for defence purposes. Tervete castle mound The more Mezotne castle mound significant castle Buse castle mound mounds in Latvia: Talsu castle mound From the 11 th to 12 th century onwards, the cultural environment of the patriarchal tribes of the Baltic area, their economic and spiritual life as well as the landscape fell under the influence of the economic, religious and administrative Mound Tanisa at Rauna culture of German missionaries. 15 Castle ruins of the Rezekne fogt (ruler of the territory) Kandava castle mound Daugmale castle mound INDIVIDUAL FARMSTEAD The individual farmstead, having broken away from the tribal community, turned into the living space for the household and the family amidst a landscape that was adapted for tilling and ca le-breeding and capable of providing for the material and spiritual needs of all the individuals who lived in the farmstead. Farmstead in Vidzeme 17 RURAL LANDSCAPE The rural folk’s excellent sense of nature and the environment when organizing their living space goes hand in hand with a responsible attitude towards the economically available territory and the immediate areas, very carefully selecting the place for residential and ancillary buildings. Trees and alleys have been planted thinking of a harmonious environment; individual landscape elements have been adjusted: bushes have been cut, springs and huge boulders have been cleared, free space given to peculiar trees and attractive panoramic views. 18 RURAL ENVIRONMENT The rural environment, in contrast to the urban environment, is characterised by elements of high cultural, historical, architectonic and landscape potential. Important components are big complexes, for example, manors and their parks, public institutions: churches and churchyards, parsonages, schools, shops, pharmacies, municipality buildings, wind- and water-mills, factories and plants, ancient inns and post offices, bridges, roads, railways and railway stations. BIRIŅI MANOR CASTLES AND PALACES Today historically significant and valuable elements of human-created environment are awarded the status of cultural monuments. Manors, parks, churches, medieval castles and their ruins have a high cultural, historical, artistic and emotional potential as well as a considerable impact on the surrounding environment since all of them are, for military, logistical or even symbolic reasons, masterfully located in the landscape. Feudal lords, bishops and their vassals built their castles on hills or steep banks of rivers or lakes to serve as military support bases, to protect their property and territory and to maintain control over the local population. FEUDAL CASTLES AS BEGINNING OF TOWNS The settlements in the vicinity of the medieval feudal castles developed into villages and towns whose residents could engage in crafts and trade, thus becoming mediators between the country folk and the buyers of their production. The most impressive fortresses of Latvia are in : Riga Sigulda Cesis Ludza Dobele Bauska Ventspils Aizpute Krustpils Turaida castle at river Gauja 22 Bauska castle Daugavpils castle – unique cultural and historical monument Stameriena palace Diklu palace Edole castle at sixties of the 19 th century and nowadays 26 MANOR HOUSES AND PALACES The architecture of the 17–19 th century manor houses and their ensembles is the treasure of the cultural heritage of Scandinavian and eastern European countries, including the Baltic states, and has a large potential for the development of tourism. The palaces built by Dukes of Courland in Rundale and Jelgava and several tens of former medieval fortresses in Latvia have been recognized as valuable cultural monuments and taken under the protection of the Latvian state, along with Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism palace ensembles in Mezotne,