The landscape park of Kemeri with a network of winding tracks along Versupite river was projected and 1839 started to develop by Karlis Heinrich Vagner, a gardener of Riga. The development and improvement of the part was continuous during the next hundred years. After the erection of Kemeri hotel in year 1936, a symmetrical parterre with lawns, flower plantations and alleys was created in its western part. Walks in the park were deemed to be one of prerequisites for recovery of patients. Across the river Versupite there are multiple small bridges created with a names given such as: The Bridge of “Sighs”, Bridge of “Whims”, “Musical Bridge” etc. The Kemeri park is one of the oldest and major public parks in terms of covered area in Latvia outside Riga. In 30’s of the 20th century the total length of the walkways reached 15 km, and it was even possible to cross the river Versupite and canals with small dinghies.
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Kemeri Landscape Park. The park was created in the middle of the 19th century and features a network of winding paths interspersed with architectural objects – pavilions, rotundas, bridges across the artificial canals fed by the Versupite River that flows through the park. The Sulfur Water Pavilion, built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, stands in the south-eastern part of the park. Next to it, you will find the Kirzacina (Little Lizzard) sulfur spring, one of the most popular in Latvia. Its water can be used both internally and externally. Other interesting objects in the park include the Love Islet Pavilion, a rotunda built in 1928 in the Classicism style; the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the oldest of the churches in Kemeri which was built in 1893 in the style of wooden churches typical for Northern Russia; monuments to the founders of the Kemeri resort, the first physicians, who worked there, and soldiers fallen in World War I and World War II.
History of Kemeri resort
The sulfur springs of Kemeri were used in traditional medicine already in the second half of the 18th century and in the early 19th century when the ailing noblemen of the Kurzeme region came here for treatment and stayed with local foresters. The chemical analysis of Kemeri spring waters was first carried out in St. Petersburg in 1801.
The first public bathing establishment in Kemeri was built in 1838 on a state-owned plot of land that had been allocated for sulfur water therapy purposes by Emperor Nicholas I. This is regarded as the year of founding of the resort which was quite popular in the Russian Empire, and a direct railway line between Moscow and Kemeri was opened in 1921.
During World War I there was active fighting in the area of Kemeri and Tirelpurvs, and the resort suffered serious damage. But it recovered quickly after the war and was granted the status of a town in 1928. Similar to Sigulda, Kemeri was a favorite among holiday-makers from Riga.
The electric train line to Kemeri was opened in October 1951. In 1959 Kemeri became part of the Jurmala city. During the Soviet times the resort was significantly expanded and given the status of a resort of the USSR importance. But the flourishing resort went into the decline in the 1990s when the economic situation changed after restoration of Latvia’s independence.
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