From 15 September to 28 November 2026, the Aleksandrs Čaks Museum hosts a thematic exhibition from the museum’s collection of materials entitled ‘The Poet’s Kitchen and Creative Bohemia’.
One of the oldest favorite places for poets and artists to meet and exchange thoughts was cafes. The simple people (Ormans, wood sawers, fishermen, wood floaters) were popular with the Daugavmala pub ‘Anchor’, where many artists studied typical works of art. There were also meeting places popular with the sailors, the Black Ball and the legendary Badre, where Aleksandrs Čaks found examples of his literary works. In the summer of 1928, returning from his work as a teacher in Drabeši, he met the young artists who brought the poet into the environment of restaurants and taverns. Chak liked the atmosphere of cafes and restaurants, where he was among the people and at the same time felt apart from others.
The exhibition, which is made up of materials from the museum's collection, is structured in three parts:
the economic activity of the Chuck family;
cookbooks, recipe books and the most sought-after dishes in the memories of the poet's friends;
history of the most famous restaurants and pubs in Riga, often visited by A. Čaks.
The exhibition features the poet's notes for family members stored in the museum's collection, photographs of social events with friends, cookbooks collected by the poet's mother, as well as handwritings reflecting his passion for cooking and cooking.