Dobele Castle Ruins, Dobele, Latvia

The Livonian Order's stone castle is the oldest building in Dobele, and a national architectural monument. It was built on the site of an ancient Semigallian timber fortress from 1335 to 1339. A church was built and a park was laid out later.

This land hosted a settlement of Dobele's most ancient inhabitants – the Semigallians as early as 1000 years B.C. Surrounded by the ancient town, there stood a timber fortress, one of the administrative centres of ancient Semigallians. The castle has been mentioned several times in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle telling about the 13th century battles between the locals and the German crusader knights. Between 1279 and 1289, Dobele castle withstood six enemy attacks. In 1289, the Semigallians burnt down their fortress and left, undefeated, for Rakte in Lithuania.

Until 1562, the castle was headquarters for the chief of the garrison and also the Komtur, commander of the district. During the period of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, several commanders were in charge of the castle, the last one being Christoph Georg von Ofenberg. After 1729, the castle built by the Order was abandoned and gradually fell in ruins. Works for the conservation of the ruins started were launched in 2002.

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User Reviews

M CF (2 years ago)
Pitty is closed on Monday and was our day there, would have loved to enter the castle. Outdoors is nice area

Edgars Bralitis (2 years ago)
Not much to see yet, but very well preserved place. Good to visit when there is an event held there otherwise 30-60 minutes is max you can spend there.

Mārīte (3 years ago)
Nice place, nicelly renovated. Entrance fee seems a bit overpriced, considering that part of the castle is still closed.

Aleksandar Aleksandrov (3 years ago)
Interesting place! Pity, that the main building was not yet open for visitors.

Anatolijs Agafonovs (4 years ago)
Impressive.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Roman Moško

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Dobele Castle Ruins

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