Latvia - Rundāle Palace Ensemble with a Garden and Forest Park

"The Rundāle Palace ensemble with a garden and forest park is located in the Zemgale plain near the Latvian-Lithuanian border. The closest town Bauska is 12 km away, Jelgava – 43 km and Riga – 79 km away. Administratively, the Palace complex is included into the village of Pilsrundāle in Rundāle Parish and can be reached on P103 Dobele–Bauska regional route, making a turn to Pilsrundāle."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List

Latvia - Meanders of the Upper Daugava

The Upper Daugava valley with nine unique meanders (98 km from Piedruja to Daugavpils) is a depositary of outstanding values of nature, biodiversity and landscapes reflecting also historical and cultural significance. This object represents a mixed - natural and cultural - world heritage value. The river valley with its characteristic arches and typical upper flood terraces has formed before 13 - 15 thousand years, after the glacial period. During that time the river stream was so strong that it carried great masses of sand, gravel, large stones and even cliffs, creating picturesque hills, deep ravines with springs, rivers and large river Daugava riffles. In the 45.4 km stretch from the Daugavpils and Krāslava towns the river is composed of nine outstanding meanders that represent unique and nowadays exceptionally rare features. These unchanged geomorphologic formations belong to the context of large rivers of the world's Northern hemisphere.

Latvia - Grobiņa archaeological ensemble

Grobiņa archaeological ensemble is situated in the western part of Latvia not far from the Baltic Sea and City of Liepāja, in the territory of Grobiņa town and its vicinity. The first inhabitation of Grobiņa is connected with the Stone Age, later in the first millennium AD Grobiņa became a centre of the West Baltic tribe Curonians. In the 7th century Norsemen appeared in Grobiņa. They developed in Grobiņa and its vicinity agrarian and international trade settlements. At that time Grobiņa was connected to the Baltic Sea by the Ālande River. The Norsemen communicated with local Curonians and established a peculiar form of ethnic symbiosis represented in artefacts, dwelling sites and burials. Up to the 9th century AD an important Norsemen, Viking and Curonian proto-urban settlement existed in Grobiņa. Grobiņa’s position close to the Baltic Sea, along Ālande river, made it an area that was easily accessible by water. Furthermore, the rich soil meant the area was excellently suited for extensive agricultural activities which could sustain a growing population, not only of the local Curonians, but also the new Scandinavian settlers.