Academic Centre
On October 26th an exhibition celebrating the first newspaper in Latvian language LATVIEŠU AVĪZES 200: ON THE WAY TO A MEDIA SOCIETY was opened in the premises of Ģederta Eliasa History and Art Museum in Jelgava, organised by both National Library of Latvia and the Ģederta Eliasa History and Art Museum in Jelgava. Curator of content for the exibition is professor Vita Zelče of University of Latvia, Faculty of Social Sciences, while the curator of the exhibition is Kristiāna Kirša, graduate of UL FSS of communication science master study programme. Una Grants is the designer for the exhibition.
In 1822, the first newspaper in the Latvian language, Latviešu Avīzes (The Latvian Newspaper) started publication in Jelgava and initiated the era of journalism that nowadays takes the form of internet news portals and electronic media. The newspaper continued to appear for more than 94 years, until its publication was interrupted by the First World War in 1915. The paper witnessed the dynamic 19th century filled with social change, rich in new technologies and means of communication; and the early twentieth century punctuated with political upheavals.
Many outstanding personalities took part in the paper’s creation, and all of the most important politicians, military leaders, clergymen, inventors, cultural activists and educators of the time were featured on its pages. The news columns reflected important, sensational and everyday events in Kurzeme, the Baltic area and the world. The paper also contained literary pieces, humor and riddles, descriptions of church and school activities, as well as advertisements.
The first editor of the newspaper, Carl Friedrich Watson, once jokingly called his newspaper the “immortal newspaper”. He was/is right – Latviešu Avīzes is both immortal in the history of the media, and also has eternal value in the history and culture of Latvia.
The exhibition has been created as part of "Latviešu grāmatai 500" event series, noting the importance and influence on society of the written word in Latvian through out centuries. In 2025, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the first book in Latvian and the way towards it, a wide variation of events will take place, organised by the National Library of Latvia and other culture and memory institutions.
