In the early 17th century, the Swedish army occupied the castle Turaida.A man of letters found a faw-month-old girl on a battlefield.
He adopted her, named her Maija and raised her like his own daughter. Maija was a very beautiful girl and we called her "Turaida Roze", the Rose of Turaida.
She had many suitors and is the gardener of the castle of Sigulda named Viktor Heils she decided to marry.
The lovers met in a cave between Sigulda and Turaida.
In the castle of Sigulda, a Polish officer who was in love with Maija, saw his advances rejected.
Posing Heils, he made an appointment in the cave to abuse her.
Upon his arrival, Maija understood what awaited him. She gave him her scarf, believing it was magical and that it would protect him from the wounds of war.
To prove it, she put the scarf around her neck, the soldier believed the girl and struck her fatally.
The officer, horrified by his actions, hanged himself in the forest.
Maija had preferred to die rather than betray her love.
Heils found the body of his fiancee and was initially suspected of the murder.
Quickly exonerated, he buried his beloved, planted on her grave three lime trees and disappeared forever.
Until the 19th century, this story was regarded as a legend but in the middle of the 19th century, documents were found during the restoration of the castle and allowed to validate the story ...
Nowadays, young couples come to lay flowers on the grave of the Rose Turaida to ask Maija to watch over their love.
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