Venues

Festival House

For the 2011 edition, the location of the festival was the former premises of Natālija Draudziņa’s Gymnasium in Ģertrūdes Street no. 32. Encircled by other buildings and hidden from the street noises and crowds, the five storeyed house by architect Eižens Laube used to house Natālija Draudziņa’s Girls Gymnasium (1910 - 1940) which later, in 1952, was joined by a basic school. Today’s younger generation would sooner recognise the place by the name of Riga Raiņa Evening (shift) secondary- school. Since two years ago the building has been privately owned.

First Natālija Draudziņa’s Girls Gymnasium was located at Ģertrūdes Str. 30, later - Ģertrūdes Str. 24; but in 1904 a teacher, school founder and headmistress Natālija Draudziņa commissions one of the most prominent Riga architects at the time Eižens Laube (1880-1967) to design a grand building, funded by her own and the parents’ private means.

Laube was a national romanticist known for his attempts to reflect Latvian historical identity and Latvian individuality in his facades - decorative elements, folklore-based details and nature-inspired reliefs. However, Natālija Draudziņa’s Gymnasium building was designed as very conservative, and atypical for Art Noveau - ‘anti decorative’ and functional. The only decorative elements were the metal railings in stair- cases, ornaments on some ceilings and walls, and the minimally outward bowing corridors.