Elva is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Elva Parish Elva is a rural parish in the Estonian Tartu County with an area of . As of 2017, it has a population of 14241 inhabitants. It was created in 2017 from the merger of the municipality Elva with the rural communities Konguta Parish, Puhja Parish, ...

Tartu County Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of t ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Elva has two large lakes: Lake Verevi has a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer and is host to many outdoor events. Lake Arbi has wet reed grown shores. Elva's largest employer (and in all of southern Estonia) is Enics Eesti AS, subsidiary of Enics Group, providing electronics manufacturing services in industrial electronics. Elva has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade to high school graduation. A dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is a visitors' information center and which used to be an important trade route in the past centuries. Detailed information on hikes on foot or by bicycle can be obtained from the visitors' information center. The Elva river, with old water mill sites and rapid banks, is popular for canoeing. In winter skiers can participate in the Tartu Marathon, belonging to the

Worldloppet The Worldloppet Ski Federation is a federation of long distance cross-country skiing events whose aim is to promote cross-country skiing through ski races. The federation was founded on 10 June 1978 in Uppsala, Sweden. Locations Only one and t ...

series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.

History of Elva

Elva was founded soon after the completion of

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

- Valga train route that was built from 1886 to 1889. Elva was first mentioned in an Estonian newspaper in 1889. Elva is named after the Elva river that has been mentioned in books already in the 17th century. In 1913 a two grade school was opened. On 1 May 1938 Elva became a town. The town center was heavily damaged in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In July 1941 Elva was liberated by the

Forest Brothers The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...

. In August 1944 surroundings of Elva became a bloody battlefield between Hyazinth von Strachwitz's ''

Panzer This article deals with the tanks (german: panzer) serving in the German Army (''Deutsches Heer'') throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, ...

'' brigade and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. From 1950 to 1962 Elva was District Central of Elva district. Elva's town rights were restored in 1965.

Neighborhoods of Elva

There are seven neighborhoods of Elva: *Arbimäe *Järve *Kesklinn *Kulbilohu *Mahlamäe *Moonuse *Peedu.

Notable people

Caspar Austa Caspar Austa (born 28 January 1982) is an Estonian cyclist. He competes in road racing, mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountai ...

(born 1982), cyclist * (1879–1964), actor and theatre director; lived in Elva *

Valter Heuer Valter Heuer (14 July 1928, Elva, Estonia – 2 March 2006, Jämejala, Estonia) was an Estonian writer and chess player, who won the Estonian Chess Championship. He was awarded the Soviet Master title in 1960. Chess career In 1960 Valter Heuer ...

(1928–2006), chess player and chess historian; was born in Elva * (1900–1942), writer, journalist and teacher; lived in Elva 1936–1942 *

Martin Järveoja Martin Järveoja (; born 18 August 1987) is an Estonian rally co-driver. He is currently teamed with Ott Tänak and is competing for Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. Rally career He is the son of Estonian politician Toomas Järveoja, an ...

(born 1987), rally co-driver *

Ain Kaalep Ain Kaalep (4 June 1926 – 9 June 2020) was an Estonian poet, playwright, literary critic and translator. Biography and career Kaalep was born in Tartu. He studied at the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium and at the University of Tartu, from which he gr ...

(1926-2020), poet and writer; lives in Elva *

Jaan Kärner Jaan Kärner (27 May 1891, in Käo village, then Kirepi Parish (now Elva Parish), Kreis Dorpat – 3 April 1958 in Tartu) was an Estonian poet and writer. He is known especially for his nature poetry. Many of his poems were set to music by Est ...

(1891–1958), poet and writer; Lived in Elva 1921–1936 *

Kerli Kerli Kõiv (; born 7 February 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian singer and songwriter. Born in Elva, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid. In 2007, she rel ...

(born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva *

Tarmo Kikerpill Tarmo Kikerpill (born June 13, 1977) is a retired Estonian professional basketball player. He is 1.96 m (6ft 5in) in height and he played at the small forward or power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the fiv ...

(born 1977), basketball player; was born in Elva *

Kalle Kriit Kalle Kriit (born 13 November 1983 in Elva) is an Estonian professional racing cyclist who last rode for UCI Professional Continental Team . His nickname is ''Estonian Emperor''. Major results ;2002 : 1st Under-23 National Road Race Champions ...

(born 1983), cyclist *

Urmas Kruuse Urmas Kruuse (born 14 July 1965) is an Estonian politician who has been the Minister of Rural Affairs since 2021. From 2014 to 2015, he was the Minister of Health and Labour. He is member of the Estonian Reform Party. Early life Ummi graduate ...

(born 1965), politician; was born and lived in Elva, was the Mayor of Elva 2002–2007 * (1902–1970), painter; lived in Elva 1944–1970 * Karl Muru (born 1927), literary scientist and critic; lives in Elva *Jim Ollinovski ( :et) (1974–1993), poet, writer and artist; was born and lived in Elva *

Hugo Raudsepp Hugo Raudsepp (10 July 1883 – 15 September 1952) was an influential and prolific Estonian playwright and politician. Cody, Sprinchorn 2007, p. 428. In 1951 he was deported to the Irkutsk region by the Soviet authorities, where he died. Raun 2001 ...

(1883–1952), playwright; lived in Elva * Erik Ruus (born 1962), actor * (1895–1979), lexicographer * (1902–1957), painter and poet; lived in Elva in the 1950s *

Luisa Värk Luisa Rõivas (née Värk; born 6 February 1987) is an Estonian singer and politician. Värk was a runner-up of on the first season of ''Estonian Pop Idol'' (''Eesti otsib superstaari''). She was also a runner-up on ''Tantsud tähtedega'', Eston ...

(born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva

Twin towns – sister cities

The former municipality of Elva was twinned with: *

Kempele Kempele is a municipality south of the city of Oulu and south of the Oulu Airport in Northern Finland. Historically it was in the province of Oulu, but today it is in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. The population of Kempele is () and the m ...

, Finland *

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 17,839 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt'' dr ...

, Sweden *

Salo Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland **Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostroboth ...

, Finland *

Zestafoni Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...

, Georgia

Sport

Football

FC Elva FC Elva is a football club, based in Elva, Estonia, that competes in the Esiliiga, the second level of Estonian football. Players First-team squad Personnel Current technical staff Managerial history Stat ...

Gallery

Verevi-jarv.jpg, The beach of Lake Verevi in Elva. Elva laululava.JPG, Elva song festival ground, Lake Arbi in the background. Elva raudteejaama peahoone.jpg, Elva train station 8 augusti torm Elva gümnaasium.jpg, Elva Gymnasium after a thunderstorm in 2010. Apteegihoone-elamu Elvas Kesk 35.jpg, Pharmacy-house Elva kirik.JPG, Elva Church Elva 2020.jpg, railway area in Elva Peedu-Nuti vesiveski hoone 2.JPG, Peedu-Nuti watermill

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Tartu County Former municipalities of Estonia Cities and towns in Estonia 1938 establishments in Estonia Elva Parish