History of the manor

A building located in the manor house built by Baron Firks in the 16th century. The architectural decoration of the seemingly simple building contains a surprisingly rich range of different details. The first owner of the manor was the knight’s successor Jürgen von Firks, who in 1494 slowly received land from the Kuldiga Command of the Livonian Order and built the first house here – one and a half kilometers northwest of the current old Venta bridge on the left bank. In 1620, the owner of Nurmuiža, Christopher Firks, was admitted to the Knights of Kurzeme. By decision of the Russian Empire, the entire von Firks family was awarded the title of inherited baron. He sold the land of the Firks family to Duke Peter Biron, who sold it to von der Brinken from Kurmala, but it to Werner von Behr from Ugāle until one of the famous von Saken bought the manor land. The property has continued to go hand in hand, so the year of construction of the manor house, which can be seen today, is not even known. The manor house of Virka manor was initially built as a summer manor, but later it was included in the construction of Kuldiga city. In the old photos it can be seen that originally the manor did not have Art Nouveau walls and there was a veranda at the end of the building. At the beginning of the 20th century, the building was expanded. As the manor house of Virka manor is the only wooden manor in Kuldiga, since 2014 it has been granted the status of an architectural monument of local significance. The gable roof of the long one-storey house is covered with tiles. On the other hand, a large porch stands out on the facade, above which there is a covered terrace. The edges of the windows are decorated with wood carvings, there was an ornamental silhouette saw at the roof end of the terrace, which has not been preserved. The bay windows used to be crowned with sculptural vases, which are now used as flower pots. In the past, passenger boats and barges ran on Latvian rivers, similarly to the still large rivers in Europe. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and also in later years, traffic in the lower reaches of the Venta was maintained by steamers with a small draft. At that time, the steamer “Sarja” ran from Kuldiga to Ventspils and back, in later years – the motor ship “Piltene”. The berth was built at the water mill of Virka manor, which was the only suitable place for reloading cargo and from where the road to the city went. There is no strong current in this place and the depth and width of the river were sufficient for the ship to turn around. Kuldīga and the people of Kuldīga also did not experience war. This was an alarming time in the manor. At the beginning of the Second World War, a hospital for Russian soldiers was located in the manor. In 1942, during the Forest Days, the pupils of Viļa Plūdonis Gymnasium planted one piece of non-agricultural land with poplars and pines around Virka Manor. 31 oaks were also planted in memory of the Kuldīga residents deported to Siberia. At the end of the war, Kuldīga car-tractor station or MTS was located in Virka manor. Of course, it left a devastating impression on the house. Unfortunately, the fountain was dismantled in the 1970s and parts of it were used as flower pots. farmsteads.