Conference "Rainis and Aspazija among contemporaries in the European cultural space"

As the 160th anniversary of Rainis and Aspazija approaches, on September 26 and 27, an international, interdisciplinary scientific conference "Rainis and Aspazija among contemporaries in the European cultural space" will be held in the summer house of Rainis and Aspazija (Jūrmala, Jāņa Pliekšāna iela 5/7).

Rainis and Aspazija were European and global literati and public political workers who advocated for human rights, democracy, the idea of ​​a nation state and a united Europe. The scope of conference paper topics includes the ideas of Rainis and Aspazija in the context of the era; the connection of both poets with important personalities of the 19th/20th century in turn, their ideas and works; ideological currents during the time of Raina and Aspazija in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe, their contact and development; the problems of writers and women's rights; self-images of personalities and images in society through the ages; the role of a modern personality museum in preserving and passing on the memory of a personality; creative partnerships in European countries.

The conference program is available in Latvian here.

Humanities researchers and museum representatives Kristiāna Ābele, Benedikts Kalnačs, Zita Kārkla, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Jānis Zālītis, etc., as well as guests from Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia and Finland, will take part in the conference. Gundega Grīnuma, Vita Matīsa, Viola Parente-Chapkova (Finland), Marijans Dović (Slovenia) will give plenary reports. On September 26, the working language of the conference will be English, on September 27 - Latvian.

The conference will end with the discussion "Past personalities and modern man". It will be led by Raimonds Briedis, Inga Ābele, Māra Grudule, Arnis Koroshevskis, Katrīna Kūkoja, Mārtiņš Mintaurs will participate.

The conference is organized by the Association of Memorial Museums, the Raina and Aspazija Museum and the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.