Jelgava

Jelgava (Mitau in German, Éлгава in Russian) is a 62,800 inhabitans city by Lielupe River, formerly capital city of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, and main city of this region of Semigallia in Latvia. The city is the seat of Latvia University of Agriculture.

 

 

How do I arrive to Jelgava?

  Jelgava is a town between Riga and the Baltic coast so it's quite well communicated and can be reached in many ways. 

• Train: there are frequent trains from and to Riga (aprox. 50 minutes).
• Bus: there are buses every 15 minutes to Riga (aprox. 45 minutes). There is at least 1 bus every hour from Riga (aprox. 1.5 hours) to Dobele, and from the town, there are seven buses to Tērvete (aprox. 30 minutes), two to Īle (aprox. 20 minutes) and one to Jaunpils.
• Car: having a car Jelgava can be reached on a short journey to Dobele (aprox. 25 minutes), to Jūrmala (aprox. 40 minutes), to Bauska (aprox. 45 minutes) or to Riga (aprox. 50 minutes). The town isn't far with the border with Lithuania so it can be reach visited from Šiauliai (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes).

History

Livonian tribes began to create settlements in the region in the 10th century. The knights of the Livonian Order began building Jelgava Castle in 1265, managing to defeat the Livonians in the vicinity by 1290. After the definitive dissolution of the order during the Livonian War, the castle was taken over by the Curonian nobility. In 1573 its rights as a city were recognized and in 1578 it was declared the capital of the Duchy of Curland and Semigalia. In 1617 the city became the capital of the duchy again, forming part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Jelgava growing and becoming a commercial and industrial center. The penultimate Duke of Curonian, Ernst Johann Biron, favored the city culturally. In 1795 it took place the annexation to Russia (king Louis XVIII of France used Jelgava Palace as residcence in 1798-1801). The palace was saved from destruction despite Jelgava was occupied by Prussian troops during the French Revolutionary Wars. Jelgava experienced a new expansion after the connection with the railway network in 1868. During WW1 it was battlefield between the Red Army and the free Baltic-German "Freikorps" corps and after the victory of the Freikorps, Jelgava became an important city in independent Latvia. German troops occupied Jelgava  during WW2 and when defeated it was conquered by the Red Army, with much of the population of German origin expelled and had to return to Germany and almost 90% of the city damaged during the fighting. Since 1939 the city has had  Latvia University of Agriculture.

 

What can I visit in Jelgava?

Jelgava before the Second World War had regular, broad streets lined with the mansions of the Baltic German nobility who resided at the former capital of Courland. But it was very damaged during the war an not much of this remains. Despite that, Jelgava is a quite interesting city.

These are Jelgava's main attractions:

• Jelgava Palace (9-17 Mon-Fri, 9-18 Sat and 9-16 Sun from May to Aug; 9-17 Mon-Fri from Sep to Apr; 2€/ 1€  adults/ students and kids): 18th century Baroque palace by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, largest in the Baltics in that style, built for Ernst Johann von Biron as a residence for the Dukes of Courland. Nowadays it hosts Latvia University of Agriculture. The palace also has the burial vault of the Dukes of Courland (the oldest dates back to 1582), Kurzeme Dukes Crypt (9-17 from Jun to Oct).
• St. Trīsvienības Church Tower (10-18 from May to Sep; 10-18 Tue-Sat and 11-18 Sun from Oct to Apr; 2.50€/ 1€  adults/ retiree and students): tower of the former Lutheran church of the same name that was destroyed during WW2.
  
• Jelgava History and Art Museum (11-18 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 10-17 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 3.50€/ 0.50€  adults/ retiree and students): museum placed in the building that hosted the first university of Latvia that has expositions about the city's history and paintings of the Latvian old master Ģederts Eliass.
• Jelgava Catholic Cathedral: Neo-Gothic cathedral church built 1904 designed by Carl Strandmann (the previous one, from 1630, was demolished due to risk of collapse), seat of the Diocese of Jelgava. It was burnt during World War II and restored using the building blocks of previous walls as building materials. 
• Jelgava Latvian Orthodox Cathedral (9-17): cathedral that was first a wooden church, then a church by Rastrelli and the current building was built in the 1890s by Nikolai Chagin. It also resulted destroyed during WW2 but then rebuilt after Latvia regained independence.
  
• Jelgava Lutheran Cathedral: cathedral first built by Duke Gotthard Kettler, considered the oldest in Jelgava. It was burnt down during WW2 but restored afterwards.
• Uzvaras: memorial park that hosts many concerts and international festivals, including the largest annual ice sculpture festival in the Baltics.
  
• Ādolfs Alunāns Museum (10-17 Tue-Sun; 1€/ 0.50€  adults/ retiree and students): memorial house where this 18th-19th centuies writer, a pioneer in Latvian threater, lived during 2 years.
• Latvian Railway History Museum: branch of Jelgava (10-17 Wed-Sun; 1.50€/ 0.80€  adults/ retiree and students): small museum where getting acquainted a railway hubs in Latvia, as well as railways' impact in nowadays life and investigate how it works.
• Valdeck Castle: Neo-Gothic style manor that was until the 1920 land reform the hunting castle of the Waldeck of Sorgenfrei. Today it houses a building of Latvia University of Agriculture.

Jelgava Palace

Jelgava History and Art Museum

Dobele Castle Ruins

 Not so far from Jelgava, going 30 km west, there's Dobele (Doblen in German, Duobelė in Lithuanian, До́беле in Russian), a 11,391 inhabitants town on the banks of river Bērze that received town rights quite late (1917) during the German occupation of Courland Governorate in WW1. Its main sightseeing point are Dobele Castle Ruins, remains of a Livonian Order castle built in the 1330s (first a Semigallian castle mound burnt by them before their defeat) that was abandoned after the Northern War and the Big Plague. To learn more about the town it can be visited Dobele Local History Museum (11-18 Tue-Fri; 11-16 Sat; free), a small exposition about life in Dobele castle and town till 1840 that also hosts temporary expositions. It also has two churches, Dobele Lutheran Church and Dobele Catholic Church, and a place where learning about old Latvian traditions (House of Crafts of Dobele). It can be interesting to visit Dobele Institute of Horticulture (9-17 Wed-Sat and 9-15 Sun from May to Sep; 9-17 Mon-Fri from Oct to Apr; 4€/ 3€  adults/ retiree and kids), big gardens full of apricot trees, cherry trees, plum tree and the biggest collection of lilacs of the country (it's specially beautiful in spring). Going 16 km south there's one of Latvia's kept secrets, Pokaiņi Forest (9-17 Wed-Sat and 9-15 Sun from May to Sep; 9-17 Mon-Fri from Oct to Apr; 2.50€/ 2€  adults/ retiree, students and kids). A local historian found out in the 1990s that there were stone piles, rivers and agglomerates, brought from faraway places, fact that made everybody think that was a sacred place for pagans and its ancestors. The forest is very nice to walk and has a strong energetic field. Unfortunatelly you can spend not much more than an hour in this magic place.

Tērvete Hillfort

Going 20 km south appears the town of Tērvete (Hofzumberge in German, Tervetė in Lithuanian), a 3,396 inhabitants municipality. Some of its most visited places are Tērvete Nature Park (9-17; 5.50€/ 4€  adults/ retiree, students and kids), theme park where learning about Latvian traditional fairytales and which also has a dwarf forest (where kids can play the role of dwarves). In the entrance to the Nature Park there are three old hillforts: Tērvete Castle Hillfort or cukurkalns (Semigallian hillfort from the 11th-12th century, abandoned after battles with the Livonian Order), Klosterhill (hillfort which is more than 3,000 years old) and Swedish Hillfort (built in the 13th century by the Livonian Order).

Jaunpils Castle

Not so far from Dobele, going 22 km northwest, there's Jaunpils (Neuenburg in German), a 1,029 inhabitans town whose main sightseeing point is Jaunpils Castle (10-20), castle built in 1301 by the Livonian Order master Gotfrid von Roga and which has rarely preserved its historical look. During four centuries (till 1917) it was inhabited by baron von der Recke family. Nowadays the castle is used as hotel (specially popular for weddings), a museum and has a pub which offers tasty Latvian food.

 

Where can I eat in Jelgava?

Jelgava is aan universitary city so there is a wide range of places to eat although it's recommended getting and trying one which seems popular among locals. One of the best choices is the cafe Kafe Picērija (Akadēmijas iela 4).

Posted in: Europe,Latvia