Jelgava is the former capital of the Duchy of Courland.

Jelgava, formerly Mitava, is located on the Lielupe River, 45 km from the capital of Latvia.

Here the Master of the Livonian Order Konrad von Mendern began construction of the castle in 1265. And the last Master of the Livonian Order and the first Duke of Courland Gotthard Ketler moved to Mitava, which became the capital of the Duchy of Courland. In 1697, Peter I visited Mitava and negotiated with Duke Friedrich Casimir of Courland for an alliance in the upcoming Northern War with Sweden.

Centuries passed, the dukes changed and in 1737 Ernst Johann Biron, the favorite of the future Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna, was elected the new duke. By his order, a grand Baroque palace was built, the architectural project of which was designed in 1738 by the famous Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

The palace hosted many famous people within its walls. Here Maria Theresa of France married the Duke of Angoulem, in 1779 Peter Biron received the famous Count Cagliostro in the palace, visited Mitava and Giacomo Casanova, whose name is associated with the fatal seducer of women. In the Mitava Palace lived the French king of the Bourbon dynasty Louis XVIII, who fled from revolutionary France with courtiers. Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya-Yurievskaya stopped, who entered into a morganatic marriage with Emperor Alexander II.

You will see and hear a lot of new and interesting things. From the tower of the Church of the Holy Trinity you will see a panorama of the whole city: churches, the cathedral, the building of Academia Petrina, on the site of which there was a palace where Anna Ioanovna, the widow of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm, the future Empress of the Russian Empire, once lived. During the Republic of Latvia, the Duke Peter Gymnasium was housed in the Academia Petrina building. The most famous graduates of which were folklorist Krisjanis Barons, playwright Adolf Alunan, presidents of the Latvian state Janis Čakste and Albert Kviesis, President of Lithuania Antanas Smetona. If desired and for a fee, you can visit the tomb of the Courland dukes, where there are burials of 24 representatives of the Ketler dynasty and 6 representatives of the Biron dynasty.

After visiting Jelgava, at will and by agreement, we can go to Lithuania, where we will get acquainted with the history of Lithuania and visit the fourth largest city of Lithuania Shauliai, visit the Mount of Crosses. This shrine in Lithuania is a place of pilgrimage. You will see the cathedral of St. Paul and Peter. Walk along the pedestrian street Vilnaus, which will surprise you with the number of different sculptures and fountains.

When combining these excursions (Jelgava + Shauliai), the trip is designed for the whole day.

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Transportation costs are not included in the cost.