English: Daugavpils is a city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River. It is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some 230 kilometres to its north-west. Daugavpils is located relatively close to Belarus and Lithuania (distances of 33 km and 25 km respectively), and some 120 km from the Latvian border with Russia. Daugavpils is a major railway junction and industrial centre and lies approximately midway between Riga and Minsk, and between Warsaw and Saint Petersburg. Daugavpils, then Dyneburg, was the capital of Polish Livonia while in Poland. Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the city became part of the Russian Empire. To this day it maintains an overwhelmingly Russian-speaking population, with Latvians and Poles being significant minorities.

After centuries of Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian and Russian rule, a rule mainly executed by the Baltic German aristocracy, the Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918 when it broke away and declared independence in the aftermath of World War I. However, by the 1930s the country became increasingly autocratic after the coup in 1934 establishing an authoritarian regime under Kārlis Ulmanis. The country's 'de facto' independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II, beginning with Latvia's forced incorporation into the Soviet Union, followed by the invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941, and the re-occupation by the Soviets in 1944 (Courland Pocket in 1945) to form the Latvian SSR for the next 45 years. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation from Soviet rule and condemning the Communist regime's illegal takeover. It ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring 'de facto' independence on 21 August 1991.

The Scotch Mist Gallery contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland and countries that previously comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.