An exhibition titled "What would our first two rectors have discussed?" will be displayed in the RSU Museum display cabinet next to the Great Hall (Aula) from 29th January to 18th April. The exhibition will be about the first two RSU (at that time - Rīga Medicine Institute) rectors, Prof. Ernests Burtnieks and Prof. Vasilijs Kalbergs. The exhibition is free of charge and can be viewed from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. every weekday. 

2018 is the anniversary year of the first two RSU rectors - on 29th January, RSU commemorates the 120th anniversary of the birth of Professor Ernests Burtnieks while the18th April marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Vasilijs Kalbergs.

Both professors arrived in Latvia after World War II and were employed as teaching staff at the Faculty of Medicine, involved in administrative duties and were among the founders in 1950 of the Riga Medical Institute, on the basis of the Faculty of Medicine at the Latvian State University. Both professors were medical doctors: Professor A. Kalbergs' scientific interests were associated with anatomy while Professor E. Burtnieks' - with phthysiatry and research in tuberculosis.

Prof.E.Burtnieks and Prof. V.Kalbergs were colleagues between 1947 to 1958. Today we can only guess what they talked about in those days and the themes that were worthy of discussion. This was a complex period in history, during the rule of Stalin and the sovietisation of the state in all spheres of the economy, a planned economy was introduced and labour politics, and loyalty to the Soviet regime a requirement.