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