{"id":2100,"date":"2025-02-19T21:27:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T21:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/visi-stasti\/reiera-shelter\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T10:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T10:44:14","slug":"reiera-shelter","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/visi-stasti\/reiera-shelter\/","title":{"rendered":"Reiera shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At 5 B\u0113rzaine Street (formerly known as Great Garden Street), stands an impressive building with a rich history \u2013 Reyer’s Shelter or Reier\u0161tifts (Reyhers-Stift). This structure represents a significant example of charitable history in C\u0113sis, which began with one man who never forgot his hometown. <\/p>\n

The building’s story began in the late 19th century when contractor Musse started its construction. The year 1899 became the shelter’s official birth year when the new building was opened in August. It was named after its founder, Gustav Adolf Reyer, who, being a successful bookseller and publisher in Jelgava, never forgot his roots in C\u0113sis. <\/p>\n

In 1863, Gustav Reyer and his wife Frederike Elisabeth drafted a testament expressing their wish to use their capital (around 100,000 rubles) for charity. They wanted it to grow to 150,000 rubles and be divided between their hometowns \u2013 Jelgava and C\u0113sis. C\u0113sis received one-third \u2013 50,000 rubles. <\/p>\n

As a result of the Reyers’ generosity, this elegant shelter was established to serve as a refuge for older Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed confession women \u2013 widows of merchants and craftsmen and unmarried daughters who had reached the age of 50. Unlike other similar institutions, Reyer’s Shelter was truly luxurious \u2013 each lady had a separate room with elegant furnishings, a common hall with a piano, and a “considerable library.” It’s no wonder that in 1919, the newspaper “Soci\u0101ldemokr\u0101ts” pointed out the stark differences between this German shelter and Latvian almshouses! <\/p>\n

The spacious premises of the shelter had room for only 10 ladies, which testifies to its level of comfort. Some of these respectable residents even offered language lessons or sold their furniture, as evidenced by advertisements in newspapers in the 1920s-30s. <\/p>\n

Over time, the number of German residents in C\u0113sis decreased, and rooms gradually became vacant, which from 1927 began to be used by the C\u0113sis Health Fund. The fate of the shelter changed dramatically in 1939 when, according to the interstate agreement on the relocation of Latvian citizens of German nationality to Germany, many residents left. The Minister of Public Affairs issued an order to close Reyer’s charitable institution in both Jelgava and C\u0113sis. <\/p>\n

After the shelter’s closure, the building underwent various transformations \u2013 in 1941, the C\u0113sis City Ambulance was established there, in 1942, a central tuberculosis control facility was opened, and in the same year, Elza Berkholce set up an art salon for promoting Latvian art.<\/p>\n

These days, this historic building belongs to the city of C\u0113sis and houses various government and municipal offices – the C\u0113su district municipal police, Vidzeme Planning Region, C\u0113su Forest District, and others.<\/p>\n

Although the surroundings of the building have changed over time \u2013 the fence has been torn down, the street widened \u2013 you can still see the original layout in the 1st floor rooms with their separate chambers and the large hall, which once served as an elegant shelter for elderly German ladies.<\/p>\n

Source:
\nDace Cepur\u012bte, Mg. hist., Research \u201cThe C\u0113snieks and His House<\/a>\u201d
\nL\u012bga Lansberga, Project \u201cLatvian manor houses and castles and other interesting places\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/12″]\t\t

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The residents of the Reiera shelter were so educated that they offered English, French and German lessons. The garden that once belonged to the Barons von der Palen was used to build the shelter.
\nAfter the Latvian-German agreement in 1939, seven residents of the shelter were repatriated to Germany, and the shelter ceased to operate. <\/p>\n

Facts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • 1794: Gustav Adolf Reier is born, the future founder of the charity institution.<\/li>\n
  • 1863: Bookseller Gustav Reier and his wife Frederike draw up a will, planning to establish charity institutions in Jelgava and C\u0113sis<\/li>\n
  • 1897: The Reier charity institution buys land on D\u0101rzu Street (now B\u0113rzaines Street) to build a shelter<\/li>\n
  • 1899: The new shelter building opens, and the street is renamed to Reier Street<\/li>\n
  • 1927: Part of the premises are rented to the C\u0113sis Health Insurance Board<\/li>\n
  • 1939: According to an interstate agreement on the relocation of Latvian citizens of German nationality to Germany, the shelter residents leave<\/li>\n
  • 1941: The C\u0113sis city ambulance service moves into the building<\/li>\n
  • 1942: A tuberculosis control center for the C\u0113sis district opens in the building<\/li>\n
  • 1942: Elza Berkholce sets up an art salon to promote Latvian art<\/li>\n
  • 1944: The tuberculosis control center is moved to 47 R\u012bgas Street.<\/li>\n
  • 1951: The ambulance service is moved to 15 Palasta Street.<\/li>\n
  • Today: the building houses the municipality of Cesis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1546,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[204,374],"product_tag":[354,353,350,351,317,352],"class_list":{"0":"post-2100","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cesis-house","7":"product_cat-hotels","8":"product_tag-cafe","9":"product_tag-history","10":"product_tag-hotel","11":"product_tag-residential-building","12":"product_tag-shop","13":"product_tag-street","15":"first","16":"instock","17":"shipping-taxable","18":"product-type-simple"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/2100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=2100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}