Jelgava in Semigalia

Thursday, 18 September 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
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Jelgava Castle © Marcin Szala/cc-by-sa-3.0

Jelgava Castle © Marcin Szala/cc-by-sa-3.0

Jelgava is a city in central Latvia about 41 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Riga with about 63,000 inhabitants. It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578-1795) and the administrative center of the Courland Governorate (1795-1918).

Jelgava is situated on a fertile plain rising only 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) above mean sea level on the right bank of the river Lielupe. At high water the plain and sometimes the town as well can be flooded. It is a railway center and is also host to Jelgava Air Base. Its importance as a railway centre can be seen by the fact that it lies at the junction of over 6 railway lines connecting Riga to Lithuania, eastern and western Latvia, and Lithuania to the Baltic sea.

Academia Petrina © Igors Jefimovs/cc-by-3.0 Aerial view © Igors Jefimovs/cc-by-3.0 Zemgale Olympic Center © Igors Jefimovs/cc-by-3.0 Stacijas Parks © AfroBrazilian/cc-by-sa-3.0 Lielupe river near Jelgava © Igors Jefimovs/cc-by-3.0 Jelgava Castle © Marcin Szala/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Lielupe river near Jelgava © Igors Jefimovs/cc-by-3.0
Jelgava has regular, broad streets lined with the mansions of the Baltic German nobility who resided at the capital of Courland. The old castle (1266) of the dukes of Courland, situated on an island in the river, was destroyed by Duke Biron, who had a spacious palace erected (1738–1772) by Bartolomeo Rastrelli at the bridge across the Lielupe. The palace contains the sarcophagi of almost all of the Curonian dukes, except the last one.

The future Louis XVIII sojourned in the palace between 1798 and 1800. It now functions as the LLU, Latvijas Lauksaimniecības Universitāte, or Latvian University of Agriculture. Other landmarks include the Baroque church of St. Anne, the tower of the destroyed Trinity church, and two handsome structures: the Villa Medem and the Academia Petrina.

Read more on City of Jelgava, Latvian University of Agriculture. Wikivoyage Jelgava and Wikipedia Jelgava. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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