Landscape of Ludza Castle Ruins
Ludza, Latvia, year 2019

The new landscape elements of Ludza castle ruins are designed to make the architectural and archeological monument of national significance accessible to visitors, to highlight its preserved values and to tell about the history of the castle. 14th century castle still to the present day has fragments of several historical walls, part of the volume of the tower in the north of the castle mound, fragments of the courtyard pavement and other building parts.
In order to unify these historical elements and make them more accessible for viewing, a walking trail is designed around the outer perimeter of the castle ruins. Viewing platforms with integrated benches are placed in the most scenic places. The viewing platform for historical pavement is based on a similar principle as the walking trail. The exposed courtyard pavement is framed as a painting, highlighting its historical value and allowing visitors to see it from a distance.
The new observation tower is placed in the northern part of the castle, on the inner perimeter of the historic stone tower volume. The main load-bearing structure of the tower is designed in its center to deviate as far as possible from the surrounding historic walls. The tower has 6 levels, alternating with overhangs to the north and south. As a result, the balconies of the observation tower have a double height ceiling on each side of the tower. The tower provides a view of the city and the lake through the windows of the castle ruins from the north, but from the south side balconies it is possible to see the historical courtyard pavement and the surrounding castle mound area.
The main representative entrance to the castle territory is provided by a bridge built over the castle mound ditch, connecting the territory of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary with the place where the entrance gates to the medieval walls of Ludza were historically located.

Architecture: DJA - Didzis Jaunzems, Juta Davidovska, Anete Zavadska, Sofie Eichler
Structural engineering: Veldrums un partneri - Ģirts Bērziņš
Electricity: Beril – Inga Tereškina