2007

Creator of the Tērvete Country Park – Forester Miķelis Kļaviņš is 100

On 26 October the 100^th anniversary of the country park project author and its first creator the forester Miķelis Kļaviņš was celebrated in Tērvete.

In 1948 the LLA forestry faculty graduate, nature lover and expert was superbly capable of communicating with trees, animals and birds. Thus, in 1958 he took the liberty of starting to create a thematic landscape park, being inspired by the creative works of the Latvian writer, founder of the Latvian literary fairy-tale genre A.Brigadere, being delighted with the undulation not characteristic for Zemgale.

A lot of work and effort have been contributed, in order to transform the impassable thickets and clearances with innumerable potholes and stumps into the forest landscape accessible to everybody and pleasing to the eyes.

In order to make walks in the park more interesting, the friend of nature M.Kļaviņš, in cooperation with the woodcarver K.Kugrs, installed wooden sculptures there. The first recollections of childhood of many visitors of the park are linked with the little berry-pickers in the Hirsch Gardens - Annele with her friends, the Forest King reception or the clumsy Lutausis dancing together with the lively Sprīdītis.

On 26 October, to commemorate and to estimate the contribution of the forester M.Kļaviņš into the process of creating the Tērvete country park, the restored sculpture “Annele the Berry-picker” was unveiled. This oak sculpture was created by the artist Ritvars Kalniņs in conformity with the woodcarver K.Kugrs’s original.

It is to be concluded that the work started by the forester M. Kļaviņš is being successfully continued. Since 2000, when the Tērvete country park is managed by AS Latvijas Valsts Meži, considerable renovation and improvement works have been performed in the existing park. The Dwarf Forest and the Fairytale Forest have been extended, and the Playground has been improved. The Tērvete country park, which is acknowledged to be a family-friendly park, is one of the 10 most frequently visited recreation objects in the State.