Jelgava Museum of History and Art

Jelgava Museum of History and Art named after Gedert Elias was built in 1775 and is sometimes still called its first historical name - Academia Petrina. The museum building is an architectural monument. It was designed by architect S. Ensen in a mixture of late Baroque and early Classicism styles. The initiator of the construction was the last Courland and Zemgale Duke Peter Biron. The first higher school in Latvia and then the observatory were opened at the Academy. Today Jelgava Museum of History and Art named after Gedert Elias is the second oldest museum in Latvia.

Today, more than 80,000 exhibits are stored in the museum funds, which in one way or another characterize the entire Zemgali cultural and ethnographic region. The museum expositions tell about the history and culture of the area from the earliest times, paying special attention to the period of destruction during the Second World War. The greatest artistic value is the collection of paintings by Latvian artist Gedert Elias, in whose honor the museum is named today.

Near the main building, cast-iron guns are exhibited, as well as the so-called "Stone of Destiny" - a fragment of the monument to the liberators of Jelgava. The entire monument of the sculptor Carlis Janson was lost, and this small fragment was found in the ground during reconstruction.