Smiltene
| Smiltene ( German : Smilten) | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Latvia
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| Landscape: | Livonia ( Latvian : Vidzeme ) | ||
| Administrative district : | Smiltenes novads | ||
| Coordinates : | 57 ° 26 ' N , 25 ° 54' E | ||
| Residents : | 5,488 (Jan. 1, 2016) | ||
| Area : | 8 km² | ||
| Population density : | 686 inhabitants per km² | ||
| Height : | 153 m | ||
| City law: | since 1920 | ||
| Website: | www.smiltene.lv | ||
| Post Code: | |||
| ISO code: | |||
Smiltene (German: Smilten ) is a city in northern Latvia , 45 km from the Estonian border. In 2016 it had 5488 inhabitants.
Economy and Infrastructure
Above all, the textile and wood industries are located in Smiltene. There is a large road construction company and a dairy. In Smiltene there was an important polyclinic for the region, which still operates an outpatient clinic today. There are extensive parks and several lakes in the urban area.
- There is a friendship with the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Willich and with Wiesenbach (Baden) .
history
The area was inhabited by the Latgals . Smiltene was built around a castle belonging to the Teutonic Order , of which ruins still exist today. The castle, originally made of wood, was inhabited in the 12th and 13th centuries and was located on the highest mountain Smiltenes at 153 m above sea level. In 1560 the city was conquered by the troops of the Russian tsar and the castle was destroyed. Now a changing ownership followed, first from Poland, then from Sweden. From 1721 to 1918 the place belonged again to Russia. The Smiltene estate was acquired by Prince Paul Liven in 1895, during which time a strong boom began. In 1912 there was a small train to Wolmar . In 1920 Smiltene received city rights. In 1935, 3464 Latvians, 221 Jews, 25 Germans, 19 Russians, 11 Poles and 14 people of different ethnicity lived here.
Others
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- The pastor of the Lutheran Congregation Smiltenes Jakob Lange (1711–1777) wrote the first German-Latvian dictionary .
- The football club Smiltenes Abuls plays in the first division of Latvia .
Smiltenes novads
In 2009 the city of Smiltene merged with 8 surrounding municipalities to form a new administrative unit. 14,276 inhabitants are registered on an area of 949 km² (as of 2010). The Abuls flows through this area .
sons and daughters of the town
- Dainis Ozols (* 1966), Latvian cyclist
literature
- Yegor von Sievers: Smilten. A contribution to the history of the development of Livonia. Riga 1872.
- Hans Feldmann , Heinz von zur Mühlen (Hrsg.): Baltic historical local dictionary, part 2: Latvia (southern Livland and Courland). Böhlau, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-412-06889-6 , pp. 601-602.
- Astrīda Iltnere (ed.): Latvijas Pagasti, Enciklopēdija. Preses Nams, Riga 2002, ISBN 9984-00-436-8 .
