About 10 km east of the town of Talsi in northwest Latvia is the small historical village of Nurmuiža (located today in Lauciene parish). The Zekants family has a long connection with this village. Back before the 20th century, this place was known by its German name ‘Nurmhusen’. The well-preserved manor house, the impressive Lutheran church and the crumbling rectory are three of the oldest pieces of local history still in evidence today.
The Family Connection
In the middle of October 1875, Jekob Zekants and Magreete Latīnis were married at Talsi Lutheran church by Pastor Theodor Wiebeck. Both Jekob (27) and Magreete (22) were farm workers at Sukturi farm. Magreete’s father, Indriks, was the farm manager at the Anuži farm just a short way east of Sukturi farm. Although both of these farm complexes were very close to the town of Talsi, back in the 19th century they were under the domain of the powerful von Fircks family who owned Nurmuiža castle (manor house).
Almost one year later the couple had their first child, Lizette, while living at Anuži farm. Over the next several years the couple would move from farm to farm in the area, have five more children, convert to the Baptist religion and back to Lutheranism and by the 1897 All Russia Census they were living in Nurmuiža, at the home of the local pastor, Friedrich Bernewitz, along with other members of Magreete’s family.
In 1904, Magreete’s mother Dore, died in Nurmuiža and in 1914 Jekob died there. I do not know where they are buried but it must be in some old Nurmuiža cemetery with family no longer around to care for their graves. After Jekob’s death, on the eve of WWI, Magreete left the Nurmuiža area for good, along with most of her remaining siblings. Her older sister, Annlihse, however married a local farmer named Indrikis Kalviņš and they had descendants who were still living in the area in the 1920s. I have not been able to track this line however.
Nurmuiža Manor House
This extensive manor house complex is the largest and oldest manor house preserved in Latvia to the present day. It is said that the name comes from the old Livonian word for ‘field’. The manor (or castle as it is sometimes called) was created as the home of a vassal of the Livonian Order of Knights. In the 1500s, after the Livonian Order was dissolved, Georg von Fircks and his wife Anna acquired the property and started expanding it. The von Fircks family were one of the wealthiest and most powerful Baltic German landowners in Courland for centuries.
This 14,000-hectare expanse, encompassing dozens of farms and smaller manors, became the seat of the von Fircks family all the way up to the early 20th century. This family also owned Okten Manor where, as I have written in a previous post, there was an explosion that killed my husband’s great-great-great uncle Jannis Blezurs. The landlord at that time was Heinrich von Fircks. The last von Fircks owner of Nurmuiža Manor was Peter von Fircks who fled at the end of WWI. Peter’s granddaughter, Alex de Fircks, has written extensively about her von Fircks family history on her website: Alex de Fircks.com
The main manor building has been rebuilt several times over the centuries and today there are several buildings dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. Throughout the Soviet era it served as a series of collective farms. In 2004, a businessman and banker named Oļegs Fiļs (today considered one of the richest men in Latvia) bought the dilapidated manor complex and over the past couple of decades he transformed it into a luxury hotel, restaurant, event space and cultural centre. Today it covers 80 hectares and over 30 historic buildings which have been restored such as the gardener’s house, the forge, stables, a sheepshed and cowshed, servants house, granary, a pub and several gardens.
Nurmuiža Lutheran Church
In 1594, Georg and Anna von Fircks, under orders from Gothard Kettler, the first Duke of Courland, funded the construction of a new Lutheran church. This church also served as the burial place for many of the von Fircks family, including Georg and Anna. Georg von Fircks died in 1600 and he was placed in a tomb under the apse of the church. A large stone relief sculpture of he and his wife was placed in front of the altar. This monument is considered one of the best examples of Mannerist sculpture in Latvia. The building we see today dates from the late 1600s.
The bell-tower of the church rises high over the surrounding countryside and the interior is lavish with centuries-old decorations and an organ built in 1840. The crypt below the church floor was desecrated during the Soviet era but has been lovingly restored. The whole church itself was in a sad state of disrepair by the end of the Soviet-era. The family of Alex de Fircks, as well as other family members and community members enabled the church to be fully restored in the years since. You can read about those restorations here: Connections to Place
Here is an excerpt from my book of what it might have been like for young Karl Zekants at the end of a Sunday service at Nurmuiža Church :
“The sermon was almost over now and Pastor Bernewitz was giving his thanks to God for the gifts they receive every day. Karl knew this was near the end because the services were always the same. Next, the Pastor would invite the congregation to give thanks to the Lord. The congregation would sing ‘Hallelujah’. The Pastor would read a blessing and cross himself and the congregation would do the same. Then there would be a final song. This was Karl’s favourite part of Sunday service. Not only because he knew it was almost over, but because the monumental wooden organ would start playing. Set against the back wall, above the entrance to the nave, was a spectacular gilded organ. Made of carved wood and decorated with paintings, the instrument had been used at Nurmuiža church since 1840. When the singing was done, the congregation knew it was time to head out and spend some time gossiping on the grounds before going home. Pastor Bernewitz headed down the pulpit stairs and through the central aisle to the entrance. He always made sure to personally greet and speak to every parishioner, no matter who they were.
While his mother was getting the younger boys’ coats and hats on, Karl walked to the altar in the front of the church. It was ornate and gilded just like the pulpit and included large carved statues and a central painted altarpiece of the Crucifixion. There were gilded angels, more twisted columns covered in grape vines and most interesting of all to Karl there was a large stone relief panel embedded in the floor. It was a picture of a man and a woman. They both wore strange ruffled collars and the man was wearing the armour of a knight and had a grand and important pointy beard. It was certainly an image to ignite the imagination of a young man with rapidly growing dreams of seeing much more of the world than just this church in this tiny village. He knew the man was Georg von Firks and the woman was his wife, Anna. Von Firks had founded Nurmuizas church back in the late 1500s and this was his tombstone. The von Firks family were still an important family of Baltic German aristocrats in the area, although no longer were the Latvian peasants living and working as their personal serfs. That had officially ended generations ago.”
Nurmuiža Lutheran Rectory
The rectory was built as the home for Lutheran pastors of Nurmuiža church. Friedrich Bernewitz was the pastor at Nurmuiža between 1878 and 1903. This complex consisted of at least three stone buildings and probably several wooden out-buildings. The main building that housed the pastor, his large family and several servants, was designed by German architect Theodor Seiler in 1887. It was here, according to the 1897 census, that Magreete Zekants and her children (Karl, Teodors and Žanis) were living, along with Magreete’s unmarried siblings and elderly mother (Andrejs Latīnis, Andarte Latīnis and Dore Latīnis).
Pastor Bernewitz was born in Talsi. His wife, Zelina Houpiart-Dupré, was originally from the islands of Mauritius and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, which were French colonies. Zelina’s father was sent to Riga for business and remained there. In the 1897 census, Friedrich and Zelina had seven children: Hildegard, Stella, Ernst, Gabriele, Herrman, Emanuel and Teodor. Also living with them was Zelina’s mother, Eugenie Houpiart-Dupré, also from Mauritius/Réunion. Along with the pastor’s family, living in the main house were a variety of workers including their governess Helene from Riga, a young man named Peter Pilag who was the godfather of my husband’s great-grandfather, Zanis Zekants and Georg Rozen, an assistant pastor.
Living in the other buildings on the property and serving as farm workers were the Zekants/Latīnis family, the family of Ernst and Juhle Agehr, the family of Ans and Anne Alsberg, the family of Sander and Magreete Lagsdin and Fritz Behrtulson the blacksmith.
After Pastor Berewitz died in 1903, his assisstant Gerog Rozen, became pastor and became head of the household at the rectory. Several more pastors would live in the large stone house up to the Soviet takeover in the late 1940s. Over the years of Soviet occupation, the house and its buildings would slowly deteriorate and either sit empty or be used by squatters illegally.
In 2001 and 2003, Jānis Zilgalvis started researching the property to retain historical information before it was too late. Photos show the house still very much intact but certainly not in very good condition. Zilgalvis documented all the details of the architecture and history of the buildings. He took photos inside which still showed interesting and important architectural details. Unfortunately, the advanced state of decay continued to get worse and when Zilgalvis came back in 2018 the entire property was nothing but shell-like ruins. Jānis Zilgalvis has kindly given his permission for me to utilize his images and research for this post.
The Structures Today
Through the efforts of Oļegs Fiļs and his team, the Nurmuiža manor house has been saved. I am looking forward to the day when my family can travel there and stay a couple of nights in their beautifully restored rooms and have dinner in their elegant looking restaurant. It will be amazing to become immersed in a place where the ancestors I have so carefully researched spent their lives. If you would like to know more about this restoration project or visit it yourself please visit their website: nurmuiza.lv
Nurmuiža Lutheran church has also been lovingly restored, although outside of church services visiting the church is by appointment only I believe. It was hard to find out current information but it looks like services are held twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 10:00 am. Still surrounding the church is the old church graveyard. There are a few small shops and other buildings around the church but for the most part I imagine it doesn’t look too different to the flat fields and farms of yesteryear, with the giant white tower and its dominant red spire still overlooking the former holdings of the von Fircks.
Unfortunately, the rectory has not been as lucky as the manor and the church. It is in a totally ruined state. I can see the ruins on Google Maps – satellite view, behind an old folks home. I will surely want to visit it someday, no matter what condition it is in.
So carefully researched. Glad you were able to share through this blog. Thanks for the maps, photos and illustrations. Fascinating history. Hope that someday you and your family get to stay in that magnificant building.