Events Honoring Paul Einhorn
During the European Heritage Days, the Turaida Museum Reserve participates with readings of Paul Einhorn’s works and a valuable exhibition of old prints. The museum reserve organizes Einhorn’s readings together with the Professor Roberts Feldmanis Foundation, as well as the Luther Academy, which is currently preparing a Latvian translation of Paul Einhorn’s work Historica Lettica (Tartu, 1649) for publication.
The Turaida Museum Reserve, during the European Heritage Days and the event series “500 Years of the Latvian Book,” on 13 September 2025 invites visitors, through readings of Paul Einhorn, to explore the museum’s culturally and historically valuable book collection. This collection preserves rare books from the 16th–18th centuries with symbolic significance in Latvian cultural history. This time, the focus will be on the contributions of the pastor and theologian Paul Einhorn (?–1655) to Latvia’s cultural history, as well as on valuable and unique old prints.
The Turaida Museum Reserve holds two very rare works by Paul Einhorn, printed in Riga in 1627 and 1636: Wiederlegunge Der Abgötterey vnd nichtigen… and Reformatio Gentis Letticae in Ducatu Curlandiae…. Until now, these works have not been translated into Latvian, although their content is partially included in the history of our cultural heritage, folklore studies, as well as the history of the Reformation and church development.
Event venue and time: Turaida, 13 September 2025, 10:00–15:00.
Welcoming Remarks
Jolanta Borīte, Director of the Turaida Museum Reserve
Dagnija Baltiņa, National Library of Latvia
Presentations 10:15–12:30
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Dr. theol. Guntis Kalme, Luther Academy, Roberts Feldmanis Foundation – Paul Einhorn’s Cultural Mission from a Theological-Anthropological Perspective
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Dr. theol. Uģis Sildegs, Luther Academy – Paul Einhorn’s Historia Lettica and the History of Interpretations of Paganism
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Mag. philol. Aldis Pūtelis, Jūrmala Museum, independent folklorist – Paul Einhorn and Sources of Latvian Folklore
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Dr. hist. Mārīte Jakovļeva, Latvian National Museum of History – Establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Duchy of Courland and Einhorn’s Role
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Dr. hist. Vija Stikāne, Turaida Museum Reserve – Unique Old Prints in the Collection of the Turaida Museum Reserve
12:30 – Opening of the Einhorn Book Exhibition
12:30–13:00 – Coffee Break
Presentations 13:00–14:15
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Mag. philol., mag. art. Renāte Berga, National Archives of Latvia, University of Latvia – The Works of Paul and Alexander Einhorn Among Other Rarities in the Former Livonian Nobility Library
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Dr. hist. Ieva Ose, Turaida Museum Reserve, University of Latvia – “Vade mecum” – a 17th-Century Old Print in the Turaida Museum Reserve and the Origin of Its Illustrations
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Mag. theol. Antete Jenča, Turaida Museum Reserve – Spiritual and Liturgical Publications in the Turaida Museum Reserve’s Collection of Books and Calendars
14:15–15:00 – Opportunity to explore the preservation conditions of unique collection items – old prints – in the Turaida Museum Reserve. An educational tour of the collection will be led by Aija Dzene, Chief Curator of the Turaida Museum Reserve.
Paul Einhorn (?–1655) received a solid theological education and was proficient in classical languages. From 1611 to 1615, he studied in Germany and was matriculated at the University of Rostock. He served as a pastor and, from 1636, as Superintendent of Courland. His book on idolatry (Wiederlegunge Der Abgötterey…) is addressed to all Christians as a popular work, in which the author briefly describes superstitions—on lucky days, prophetic birds, Lithuanians, werewolves, spirits, demons, and moon-related afflictions—and extensively criticizes them from a Lutheran perspective.
The theologically academic-style work Reformatio Gentis… serves as a manual for young German pastors and includes observations and critical evaluations of local practices—offerings during plague times, offerings to wolves, log-burning evenings, dragon cults, and spirit feasts. The book concludes with instructions on how to conduct interrogations in one’s parish and addresses more complex cases in pastoral practice.
The content of these published works is closely connected to Einhorn’s role as pastor and superintendent, during which he mastered the Latvian language and became acquainted with local customs. When reading and analyzing Einhorn’s works, one must consider his staunch Lutheran conviction and complete intolerance toward other religions, including historical ones—Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian—with which he compares Latvian beliefs. The author was not familiar with historical works and chronicles about Livonia, so his judgments and contemporaneous conclusions in this area are sometimes curious, though of limited historical value.
During the European Heritage Days, the exhibition “Pearls of Bookmaking in the Turaida Museum Reserve” will open in Turaida, showcasing the museum reserve’s most outstanding and oldest rare books, published between 1593 and 1821. Paul Einhorn’s works will be given a place of honor, and the exhibition will be enriched by unique rarities from heritage institutions in Latvia, including the National Library of Latvia and the National Archives, which ensure the preservation of these very rare Einhorn publications.
