Cabinet of Folksongs

The Cabinet of Folksongs or the Cabinet of Dainas[1] (Latvian: Dainu skapis) is a cabinet 160 cm (63 in) tall, 66 cm (26 in) wide, and 42 cm (17 in) deep, in which all Latvian folksongs (dainas) collected by Latvian folklorist Krišjānis Barons are stored.[2][1] The cabinet itself was made in Moscow in 1880 after Barons' draft.[3] In 2001, the Cabinet of Folksongs was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Cabinet of Folksongs
The original Cabinet of Folksongs in the National Library of Latvia
DesignerKrišjānis Barons
Date1880
Made inMoscow

History

Barons started acquiring folksongs in 1868 (or 1878) with the purpose of demonstrating "that Latvian culture in its oldest part is of equal value as the culture of other nations". The cabinet was built in Moscow in 1880 and was based on Barons' draft.[1][3] Due to the amount of folksongs that were sent to Barons, the cabinet was deemed necessary. Prior to the completion of the cabinet, the folksongs were stored in cigarette-paper boxes.[3] When the amount of texts approached 150,000 in 1893, Barons and his work returned to Latvia from Moscow.[3]

Description

The cabinet has 73 drawers of differing sizes that are filled with papers measuring 3 cm × 11 cm (1.2 in × 4.3 in).[1] The cabinet's three large drawers at the bottom store archive materials. The Cabinet of Folksongs houses 268,815 pages with 4-line to 8-line folksongs, as well as other texts such as riddles and adages.[2]

After the author's death, the cabinet was kept in a bank vault.[4] It was moved to the Archives of Latvian Folklore in 1940, to the Literature, Folklore, and Art Institute of The Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1945, to the Literature, Folklore, and Art Institute of the University of Latvia in 1999, and to the new building of the National Library of Latvia in 2014.[4][5] Before the relocation to the National Library and it being placed on public display, the Cabinet of Folksongs was insured for one million euros.[6]

The Cabinet of Folksongs has a copy in the Krišjānis Barons Museum and another one within Stankevich manor in Russia, where Barons started working with dainas. In 1998, the contents of the Cabinet began to be digitalised and its contents are completely available online since 2006.[3]

In 2001, The Cabinet of Folksongs was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.[7]

References
  1. "The Cabinet of Dainas / Dainu skapis". UNESCO. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. "Cabinet of Folksongs". UNESCO. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  3. "The Cabinet Of Folksongs Or Dainu Skapis". Latviešu folkloras krātuve. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  4. "Memory of the World Register - Nomination Form" (PDF). UNESCO. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  5. "PHOTO: Castle of Light welcomes Latvia's treasure – Cabinet of Folksongs". Baltic News Network. August 27, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  6. "'Daina closet' insured for a million euros". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. August 27, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  7. "Dainu Skapis - Cabinet of Folksongs". UNESCO. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
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