NEIKENKALNS AND OPEN-AIR CONCERT HALL
The place where one of the most admired Latvian folk traditions has started – the Song and Dance Festival, currently there is the beautiful Neikenkalns open-air concert hall, where you can feel the unique aura of nature and cultural history. The acoustic properties of the place are created with a water mirror, wooden constructions, existing park plantations, terraces and slopes. Here you can also see impressive environmental objects – in the crown of the Silver Grove there is a Sound Grove, where both children and adults can make music and get to know the sounds on the xylophone, metallophone, wind instruments and bells.
The first Latvian Song and Dance Festival in the summer of 1864 took place in Dikļi. The organizer of the festival was Juris Neikens – a prominent writer, teacher and pastor. He had gathered six choirs with 120 singers from nearby Vidzeme parishes in Dikļi. The hill on which the choir sang was later named Neikenkalns.