The Old Firefighter’s Depot
The premises of the Old Firefighter’s Depot are now home to the open holdings’ storage of the Limbaži Museum and Limbaži tourism and information centre. The building was constructed during the second half of the 19th century, with the construction being influenced by historicism – the so-called Brick Style.
The depot was opened to the public in December of 2009 with two exhibits – one of which was dedicated to the history of Limbaži Voluntary Firefighter Union, whilst the other displayed the Limbaži Museum technical device collection which is now an open storage. These days a total of 294 Museum items are exhibited in the open storage: radios, televisions, tape recorders, gramophones; cameras and devices; sewing machines, knitting machines, technical devices for cleaning rooms; clocks; typewriters, etc.
Visitors are welcome to take photos of the fire truck and to climb up narrow stairs and across glass flooring to the very top of the depot’s tower, from which a view of the centre of the Old Town can be seen through the fifth storey window.
The depot’s tower visit can be compared to one of the challenges of the show Fear Factor, because most of the flooring between the storeys is made out of glass. The tunnel effect (or endless depth) is perpetuated because of the glass covering of the old first storey water reservoir. All of the tower’s storeys still have the original stairs which are considerably steep. The relatively hard climb and the glass flooring ensure an extreme experience. The landmarks of central part of the Old Town can be seen through the windows of the fifth storey (half-story). The interior of the tower, as well as the garages has been restored, together with the historical paint on the first storey.
The Old Firefighter’s Depot is the place to go to find out about how fires were dealt with in Limbaži, how often they occurred, what was done when smoke was spotted. Visitors are welcome to take photos of the fire truck and to climb up narrow stairs and across glass flooring to the very top of the depot’s tower, from which a view of the old town’s centre can be seen through the fifth storey window.