The Rundāle Palace Museum has published the book “Light Catchers” by the researcher Kristīne Budže about historical chandeliers, and it is dedicated to the most valuable glass chandeliers in the collection of the Rundāle Palace Museum. The design and layout of the book was created by Alexey Murashko, one of the most accomplished book designers who has received many awards in Latvia; the scientific reviewers were Mg. art. Dainis Bruģis and Dr. art. Alante Valtaite-Gagača.
In the first part of the book, the author has described the history of glass chandeliers in Europe, tracing the development of chandeliers and characterising the types, structural and decorative elements of chandeliers and also the glass used in their manufacturing, its composition and properties. The book provides an insight into the history of glass production and the distribution of glass chandeliers in the current territory of Latvia, and also the glass chandeliers in Rundāle Palace, their origin and restoration are characterised. The second part of the book is a catalogue of the collection of historical glass chandeliers of the Rundāle Palace Museum aggregating information on 12 chandeliers from nine churches of Latvia (Asare Lutheran, Feimaņi Catholic, Gaiķi Lutheran, Klostere Lutheran, Lielsalaca Lutheran, Liepupe Lutheran, Līvbērze Catholic, Lutriņi Lutheran, and Spāre Lutheran). All 12 chandeliers are currently in the collection of the Rundāle Palace Museum. They are the only glass-arm chandeliers made in the 18th century which have survived in Latvia. The catalogue includes a detailed description of the chandeliers, information on the potential origin, and the restoration performed, and also the general view of chandeliers in photographs taken by the designer of the book Alexey Murashko and individual fragments of the chandeliers have been highlighted.
Dr. art. Laura Lūse, the director of the Rundāle Palace Museum, emphasises: “Nowadays, chandeliers have become an integral part of the interior of Rundāle Palace. Their exquisite silhouette and nuanced diversity add a different atmosphere and a sense of completion to every room. When the Rundāle Palace Museum was established, one of the very first tasks brought forward was the restoration of the palace interior with authentic 18th-century furnishings and works of art corresponding to the taste of the Dukes of Courland with the aim of highlighting the most striking nuances of European decorative art and integrating the testimonies of local cultural heritage. No compromises were made when choosing light fixtures for the palace: chandeliers had to become a stylistic representation of their time in the rooms where it was possible to place them.”
The museum’s collection of glass-arm chandeliers was formed from fragments of chandeliers found in the churches of Latvia during research expeditions. Fragments of arms or pendants, individual details of rods and arm-plates were the most frequent finds by employees of the museum. They were transformed once again into Baroque and Classicist light fixtures as a result of several decades of persistent work by master restorer Maija Banķiere, with the involvement of other colleagues from the museum, such as restorers, collection specialists, and researchers, and they are currently on display in the exhibition rooms of the Rundāle Palace Museum.
Maija started her work on the restoration of chandeliers in 1973 and completed it in 2018 when the last restored chandelier was hung in the premises of the museum. The restorer had also intended to write a book about them, however this plan did not come to fruition. Shortly before Maija’s retirement, the research of glass chandeliers of the Rundāle Palace Museum and the writing of the book was handed over to the former colleague Kristīne Budže, a researcher at the time and later Head of the Collections Department. The manuscript of the book was written in approximately five years.
Chandeliers, particularly historical glass chandeliers, represent a specific and under-researched topic studied by a very small number of art historians not only in Latvia but also in the world at large. Now there is a more extensive material on this topic in the book “Light Catchers” written by Kristīne Budže and published by the Rundāle Palace Museum.
The book is bilingual, with texts in Latvian and English.
The book has been published with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation.