Preiļi (;

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Prele''; ; , previously also ''Прели'') is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Preiļi Municipality Preiļi Municipality () is a municipality in Latgale, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2000 by merging Aizkalne Parish, Preiļi Parish and Preiļi town. In 2009 it absorbed Pelēči Parish and Sauna Parish, too the administrative centre ...

in the

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...

region of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It is also the administrative center of

History

Preiļi is one of the oldest settlements in

. It was first mentioned in written sources in 1250. The Preiļi Palace, Borch family manor was erected in 1836. By 1897 Preiļi had a population of 2104. Preiļi has had city rights since 1928. By 1935 there were 1662 people living in Preiļi of whom 50.97% were History of the Jews in Latvia, Jews. After World War II there were less than 1000 people living in Preiļi. During the Soviet Union, Soviet era many workers from Russia and Belarus started working in Preiļi and the population reached a peak of 9421 in 1989.

Demographics

Notable people

* Jānis Ivanovs (1906-1983), classical music composer * Antonija Vilcāne (born 1956), medieval archaeologist

Twin towns — sister cities

Preiļi is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with: * Hlybokaye, Belarus * Nizhyn, Ukraine * Ocnița, Moldova * Sahil, Azerbaijan, Sahil, Azerbaijan * Utena, Lithuania

References

External links