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On 22 October this year, the travelling exhibition “Kegums HPP: Pride of Latvia’s Energy Industry” was opened at Jekabpils Main Library. The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by screening of the documentary “How Kegums Power Plant Was Built. Memories of Kārlis Dumbrājs”.

More than five thousand workers from all over Latvia participated in the construction of Kegums Power Plant. Among them was Kārlis Dumbrājs who assembled two of the three power plant’s generators in 1939. On 10 December this year, Kārlis Dumbrājs, who is the same age as the Republic of Latvia, will celebrate his 100^th anniversary. Looking back at his eventful and long life, Mr Dumbrājs says: “I am still proud today to have contributed to the construction of Kegums”.

The travelling exhibition “Kegums HPP: Pride of Latvia’s Energy Industry” is a story of the collection of photo negatives on glass plates by the photographer Eduards Kraucs (1898–1977) “The Process of Kegums Hydropower Plant Construction 1936–1940” included in the Latvian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. This is a narrative about the construction of a large-scale industrial facility in the first half of the 20^th century in the Baltics. E. Kraucs produced almost two thousand brilliant photographs, documenting step by step the process of the construction of the monumental structure. Thanks to E. Kraucs’s skills as a documentarist, the photographs provide an opportunity to see some of the significant engineering nuances in the structures of the facility, highlighting important technological elements that are recognised as unique by engineering specialists.

The travelling exhibition at Jekabpils Main Library, 212 Rigas Street, Jekabpils will be on display until 26 November 2018.

The exhibition “Kegums HPP: Pride of Latvia’s Energy Industry” has been viewed this year by almost 10,000 interested persons in educational establishments and memory institutions in Latvia. In 2018, the exhibition has been exhibited in Jelgava Spidola’s Gymnasium, Jelgava Secondary School of Technology, Jelgava Secondary School No. 5, Preili Head Library, Ernst Gluck’s Alūksne State Gymnasium, Physics Festival Fizmix Experiment, Rezekne City Central Library and Saldus City Library.

The Museum of Energy of Latvenergo stores 1,736 glass plate photo negatives and 53 photo albums containing a total of almost 11,000 photographs that feature the history of the construction of Kegums Power Plant.

You are kindly welcome to view and gain insight into the collection of photo negatives on glass plates by E. Kraucs showing the process of the construction of Kegums Power Plant (1936–1940) on the spot in the depositories of the Museum of Energy at 19 Andrejostas Street, Riga.