Lielvārde population 6328, is a
townA town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in
VidzemeVidzeme is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. Literally meaning "the Middle Land" it is situated in north-central Latvia north of the Daugava River...
,
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, the administrative centre of
Lielvārde municipalityLielvārde municipality is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2004 by reorganization of Lielvārde town with its countryside territory. In 2009 it absorbed Jumprava parish and Lēdmane parish the administrative centre being Lielvārde.- References :...
on the right bank of the
Daugava river, 52 km southeast of
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
.
History
The area was a contact zone between the
FinnicThe Finnic or Fennic peoples were historic ethnic groups who spoke various languages traditionally classified as Finno-Permic...
Livonians and the
BaltsThe Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...
, and many prehistoric artifacts have been uncovered there. A
BalticThe Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...
hill-fort named Lennewarden being taken in fief by Albert of Buxhoeveden in 1201 is mentioned in the
Chronicle of Henry of LivoniaThe Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of these...
. This site is called
Dievukalns (Hill of the Gods) in Latvian. A stone castle was constructed by the Riga diocese in 1229; its ruins are still accessible today.
A parochial school was established when the area was part of
Swedish Livonia- Swedish infantry and cavalry regiments:Infantry regiments:* Garnisonsregementet i Riga * Guvenörsregementet i Riga * Livländsk infanteribataljon I...
, but ca. 70% of the population perished in the Great Plague of 1710. The opening of the Riga-
DaugavpilsDaugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...
railroad in 1861 led to the expansion of the town around the railway station Rembate. The town was entirely destroyed in
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
but was swiftly rebuilt after Latvia achieved independence.
After the occupation of Latvia and its incorporation into the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as the
Latvian SSRThe Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Latvian SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied by...
, Edgars Kauliņš (1903-1979), the local
Communist PartyThe Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
secretary, was able to save all of the farmers in the district from deportation during the period of forced
collectivizationCollectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
, declaring that there were no
kulakKulaks were a category of relatively affluent peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union...
s in the area and he would rather be deported himself. In 1948 Kauliņš became the founding chairman of the
kolkhozA kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
Lāčplēsis ("The Bear Slayer"), now part of Lielvārde. The kolkhoz became famous for its beer, still brewed in Lielvārde by AS Lāčplēša alus, part of the Scandinavian
Royal UnibrewRoyal Unibrew is the second largest brewery group in Denmark, selling under the brands Ceres, Faxe and Albani, although their best selling beer is marketed as Royal...
brewing group since 2005.
Lielvārde air baseLielvārde is an air base in Latvia located north of Lielvārde and southeast of Riga. It was built in 1970 for an attack aircraft regiment. It was transferred from Russia to Latvia in 1994 and now forms the core of operations for the Latvian Air Force....
was built by the Soviets in 1970; the largest in the
Baltic StatesThe term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, it was taken over by the
Latvian Air ForceLatvian Air Force is the aviation branch of the National Armed Forces. The first Air Force units were established 1992. It has no air combat capability, thus the defense of Latvian air space is maintained by NATO, with rotating detachments of four aircraft to Lithuania at four-monthly intervals...
in 1994.
Cultural traditions
Lielvārde is renowned as the area that inspired the prominent Latvian poets
AuseklisAuseklis was a Latvian god, and the personification of the celestial body Venus...
and
Andrejs PumpursAndrejs Pumpurs was a poet who penned the Latvian epic Lāčplēsis and a prominent figure in the Young Latvia movement.Growing up on both banks of the Daugava river, he was one of three children from the civil...
, author of the epic
LāčplēsisLāčplēsis is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it between 1872-1887 based on local legends. Lāčplēsis is regarded as the Latvian national epic.-Synopsis:...
(
The Bear Slayer, 1888), and for the
Lielvārdes josta, a traditional woven belt with 22 ancient symbols. Portions of the belt's design are featured on
Latvian banknotesThe lats is the currency of Latvia. It is abbreviated as Ls. The lats is sub-divided into 100 santīmi ....
, and its symbolism has inspired many artists and
folkloreFolklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
enthusiasts, especially those associated with the pagan revival,
dievturībaDievturība is a Neopagan religious movement, which claims to be a modern revival of the folk religion of the Latvians before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievtuŗi , literally "Dievs keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs".The Dievtuŗi movement was...
.