Saknes is an online museum mapping Latvian genealogical heritage. Search by address, surname, or parish to find your family's property on the 1935 map — or add one yourself in five minutes.
Latvia's history is written not only in its archives — but in the farmsteads, townhouses, and manors where generations were born, raised, and buried. Through deportations, wars, and the great diaspora of the 20th century, millions of Latvians were severed from the land their families had worked for centuries.
Saknes — meaning roots in Latvian — is an online museum built on the 1935 topographic survey of Latvia. Search by address, surname, or parish. Find the property your family once called home. See who lived there, when, and what happened to them.
Whether your family left Latvia in 1905, 1944, or 1990 — there is a place for them here.
We use the pre-war Latvian topographic survey — the most accurate record of the country before the occupations. Streets, farms, and buildings that no longer exist are visible exactly as they were.
All data is stored securely on EU-hosted infrastructure. You own everything you contribute. You can export or delete your data at any time. We will never sell or share personal information. Read our full data policy →
Latvian communities exist across Australia, Sweden, the USA, the UK, Canada, and beyond. Saknes gives them a shared place to gather around the land they came from.
All content can be submitted in Latvian or English. We are building for the generation that remembers, and the generation that is rediscovering.
Build an online museum for Latvian property. Every homestead, farmstead, and family house placed back on the map where it belongs.
Remember and preserve the heritage held in those properties. Names, photographs, stories, and documents that would otherwise be lost to time.
Link ancestors to the places they lived. Connect families scattered across the world back to the land their grandparents worked.
Help Latvia digitise its family history. Parish records, census data, and oral histories brought together in one searchable, community-built archive.
Search by address or surname to see if your family's property is already on the map. If not, pin it yourself — add the address, the people who lived there, and any photos or documents you have. It takes five minutes.
“Stūru stūru tēva zeme, Rakstiem mātes villainītes. Cik stūrišu, tik bāliņu, Cik rakstiņu, tik māsiņu.”— Latvian folk song, Dainas LD 3791-0