History of Jelgava Old Town House

Jelgava has been the largest and most important city in the cultural and ethnographic region of Zemgale since the 15th century. 2. In the summer of 1944, the town was practically destroyed as a result of World War II. Jelgava’s Old Town Street block was formed between the 18th and 19th centuries and is the oldest part of Jelgava’s urban development with wooden buildings that were not destroyed during the war. The block has preserved its unique historic street network and density pattern, as well as the architectural, artistic and historical expressiveness of its wooden buildings.

Jelgava Old Town House is an architectural monument of national importance and one of the oldest wooden houses in Jelgava that has survived to the present day. This house and the adjacent building of the Zemgale Restoration Centre, as well as their land were located near the 17th century city ramparts and the historic Jacob’s Canal.

Apartments, a shop, a furniture joinery, a bicycle and moped repair workshop, a shoemaker’s workshop and a laundry reception used to be housed in the rooms of Jelgava Old Town House. The ancient inhabitants heated the rooms with stoves and ovens, there was a well in the courtyard and a water main in the street in the 19th/20th century. In the yard there were sheds for firewood and household needs.