Turaida Church

On the path to the Turaida Castle in the Turaida Museum Reserve is the small wooden-spired Turaida Church, built in 1750 and housing a small history exhibition. In the churchyard two lime trees shade the grave of the legendary Turaida Rose. The headstone bears the inscription 'Turaidas Roze 1601-1620'. Viktors - a gardener local beauty Maija loved - is said to have buried Maija and planted one of the trees, then disappeared without trace.

The hillside behind the church is known as Daina Hill (Dainu kalns) and shelters the Daina Hill Song Garden. The daina (poetic folk song) is a major Latvian tradition, and the hillside is dotted with sculptures dedicated to epic Latvian heroes immortalised in the dainas.