Lake Vilkmuižas

Vilkmuiža (Wolf manor) hill and Vilkmuiža lake. Who knows whether the lake is called after the hill or vice versa. Do the big, legendary fishes live here?

The only thing that is certain is that until the mid-nineteenth century there was a manor called Vilkmuiža owned by Baron fon Fircks family on the eastern side of the lake, while on the opposite side – Talsi Crown manor.

The Vilkmuiža lake is only 1 km long, 200 m wide, 3-5 m deep and it is a considerable keeper of Couronian artifacts. It is known to many archeologists outside Latvia. In 11^th – 14^th century the lake was a burial place for the ancient Couronians. There was a cult place for cremation on the eastern side of the lake. The dead were cremated together with their weapons, tools and jewelry and the remains were sunk in the lake.

The first artifacts in the lake were found by some Talsi citizen in winter 1928. When searching the bottom of the lake for his lost spoon-bait with a rake he found some bronze or iron artifact every time he sunk his rake in the lake. In summer 1934 first archeological researches were made under the guidance of E. Šturms and more than 1000 artifacts were found. In 1936 research was carried on by archeologist H. Riekstiņš and 1810 artifacts were found, including bronze bracelets, brooches, necklets, iron weapons, harness and horse gears. They can be seen at Latvia National History museum inRiga.

At Talsi Regional museum more than 600 artifacts from 1953 archeological research can be seen.