Alūksne ()) 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 o ...

on the shores of

Lake Alūksne Lake Alūksne ( lv, Alūksnes ezers) is located in Alūksne Municipality, Latvia. The city of Alūksne is located by the lake. Lake Aluksne is the 11th biggest lake in Latvia (15.437 km²). At its deepest the lake is 15.2 m deep, but th ...

in northeastern

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

near the borders with

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, an ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It is the seat of

Alūksne municipality Alūksne Municipality ( lv, Alūksnes novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. It is located in the northeast of the country and borders Ape in the west, Balvi Municipality, Gulbene Municipality and Alūksne Municipality in the south, Pskov ...

. Alūksne is the highest elevated Latvian city, located in East Vidzeme Upland at 217 m above sea level. The high elevation of the city affects the social and physical arrangement of the place.

History

The region around Lake Alūksne was originally settled by Finnic-speaking tribes, and from the 8th-12th centuries by

Latgalians Latgalians (, nds, Letti, Lethi, modern ; variant translations also include Latgallians, Lettigalls or Lettigallians) were an ancient Baltic tribe. They likely spoke the Latvian language, which probably became the ''lingua franca'' in present-d ...

. The date of settlement at the current location of the town, then known as ''Olysta'', ''Alyst'', and ''Volyst'', is given in the

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

s of

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...

as 1284. The later name "Alūksne" comes from the Latgalian word ''olūksna'', meaning a spring in the forest. The Latgalian inhabitants of the settlement were conquered by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

rs of the

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after th ...

in 1224. They built in 1284 a wooden

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

named Marienburg (after

Mary, the mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

) on a nearby island, which served to protect trade routes from

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

to Pskov. The town which developed near the castle also became known as Marienburg. In 1342 new castle from stone was built on the largest isle of

. Marienburg was captured by the troops of

Ivan IV of Russia Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Iva ...

in 1560 during the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pr ...

. It was incorporated into the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

in 1582. The town became part of the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually ta ...

in 1629.

Alūksne city centre before the destruction by fire in 1940

Ernst Glück, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

clergyman and the first translator of the Bible into Latvian, founded the first Latvian language schools in

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in ...

in 1683. It is now the Ernst Glück Bible Museum. The Russian army led by

Sheremetyev The House of Sheremetev (russian: Шереме́тевы) was one of the wealthiest and most influential noble families in Russia descending from Feodor Koshka who was of Old Prussian origin. History The family held many high commanding rank ...

captured the town during the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

in 1702, doing great damage to the area and deporting all the inhabitants, including Glück and his foster daughter, Marta Skavronska, who later became Empress

Catherine I of Russia Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...

. After 1721 Alūksne became part of the

Livonia Governorate The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

but for many decades it was a devastated and minor settlement. Alūksne started development in the 19th century when it became a major trading centre. Further development was stimulated with the opening of

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

line Stukmaņi-

Gulbene Gulbene (; german: Schwanenburg) is a town in northeastern Latvia. It is an administrative center of Gulbene Municipality. The area of this region is , with a population of 29,797 inhabitants (69,369 sealen, 10,015 urban, 19,782 rural populati ...

-Alūksne-

Valka Valka (; german: Walk) is a town and municipality in northern Latvia, on the border with Estonia along both banks of the river Pedele. Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border but using the slogan "O ...

in 1903. During the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence ( lv, Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaim ...

Alūksne was one of the first major settlements in

which was liberated by Latvian Army in May 1919. In 1920 Alūksne was granted town rights. Since 2009 it is an administrative center of the

. During

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Alūksne was under

occupation from 5 July 1941 until 19 August 1944. The town's island is known as ''Pils salas'' (Castle Island) and Maria Island.

Alūksne Castle Alūksne Castle ( lv, Marienburgas pils, Alūksnes pils; german: Marienburg) is a castle of Teutonic Knights in current Alūksne, North-Eastern Latvia. History The castle was built in 1342 on the largest of the islands in the Lake Alūksne ...

is now used as an open-air

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

Sister cities

Joniškis Joniškis (; Samogitian: ''Juonėškis'') is a town in northern Lithuania with a population of about 9,900. It is located 39 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania– Latvia border. Joniškis is the municipal a ...

, Lithuania

Gallery

Soldiers of the Latvian National Armed Forces in Alūksne in the 1930s.jpg, Soldiers of the Latvian National Armed Forces in Alūksne in the 1930s Алуксне 180811.jpg, Lutheran church in Alūksne TU2-273 Alūksne (1).JPG, Narrow gauge railway in Alūksne Alūksne, 2013, 3.jpg, Alūksne town centre Bible Museum in Aluksne.jpg, Ernst Glück Bible Museum The New Castle of Alūksne, 2013, 1.jpg,

Alūksne New Castle Alūksne New Castle is a castle in the city of Alūksne in eastern Latvia. It was built between 1859 and 1864 by Baron Alexander von Vietinghoff in the English Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, ...

Alūksne õigeusu kirik.JPG, Alūksne orthodox church Alūksne kunstikool 02.JPG, Alūksne Art School Alūksne cemetery, 2013, 2.jpg, Alūksne cemetery Alūksne Linnuse varemed 11.JPG, Alūksne Castle ruins

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aluksne Towns in Latvia 1920 establishments in Latvia Castles of the Teutonic Knights Kreis Walk Alūksne Municipality