Gaismas pils (The Castle of Light)

The poem by Auseklis (first publication 1888) is subtitled Legend of Kurzeme (Kurzeme is a district in the western part of Latvia approximately occupying the territory of the Duchy of Courland of 1561–1795). However, the legend about a sunken castle rising again acquires a wider symbolic meaning in the poem: the loss of independence by the Latvian tribes and their organized communities in the 13th century and the Latvian people's struggle to regain freedom and independence. The song was composed in 1899, first publication 1901. It has become Vītols' most popular choral ballad and for many decades has been widely used as a symbol of the fate of the Latvian people and their hopes for the future.