The Rundāle Palace is one of the most outstanding Baroque and Rococo architectural monuments in Latvia. The adjacent, French-style Rococo garden is the largest and one of the most beautiful in the Baltic countries. The palace was built between 1736 and 1740 under the stewardship of Italian architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, who also designed the Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Museum) in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Rundāle Palace served as the summer residence of Duke Ernst Johann von Biron, who ruled the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. The restored palace has retained a maximum degree of its architectural authenticity, both in its interior and exterior. The palace’s lavish rooms are adorned with numerous paintings, sculptures, furniture, tapestries, porcelain, glass, silver and other items from that period.
The Rundāle Palace has a rose garden that that occupies almost 10 hectares, including a Blue Rose section made up of four rose beds planted in the shape of a flower blossom. The rose garden is the largest in the Baltics and has over 2600 species of roses.
Every year, the Rundāle Palace hosts a Festival of Early Music and a Baroque Garden Festival. Classical and Baroque music concerts are regularly held there, and guided tours of the palace are available in Russian, English and German.
