List of castles in Latvia

Riga Castle

This is the List of castles in Latvia, which includes fortified residences of Western European conquerors built in the area of present-day Latvia before the 17th century. There are about 140 medieval castles in the area, therefore this list is not complete. After the name of the castle comes the year of construction and a short description of its present-day condition.

Table of contents

Courland

Name Town Parish Established Status Notes Refs
Aizpute End of the 13th century Ruins
Alsunga parish Before 1341 Preserved In use
Dunalka parish Built after 1578 Ruins
Dundaga parish Late 13th century Preserved In use
Ēdole parish From 1264 to 1267 Preserved In use
Embūte parish Around 1265 Ruins Walls stand up to 7 meters high
Grobiņa 1253 Ruins A wooden castle before 1265
Lauciene parish Around 1598 Preserved Under reconstruction
Piltene End of the 13th century Ruins
Ventspils Before 1290 Preserved In use

Zemgale

Name Town Parish Established Status Notes Refs
Built after 1443 Under reconstruction Medieval part in ruins and Renaissance part reconstructed
Dobele From 1335 to 1359 Impressive ruins
Jaunpils Jaunpils parish 1301 Preserved In use
Milzkalne Smārde parish Built before 1544 Preserved and transformed In use [1]

Vidzeme

Name Town Parish Established Status Notes Refs
Aizkraukle Aizkraukle parish Second half of the 14th century Ruins Walls standing up to 5 meters high
Alūksne Around 1342 Ruins Walls higher than 5 meters high
Burtnieki Burtnieki parish Built before 1366 Ruins Walls up to 4 meters high
Cēsis Around 1213-1218 Impressive ruins
Daugavgrīva 1208 Only earthen ramparts
Gaujiena Gaujiena parish Around 1236-1238 Ruins Walls standing higher than 10 meters
Koknese Koknese parish Around 1210 Impressive ruins
Sigulda Sigulda parish Middle of the 13th century Ruins
Straupe Straupe parish End of the 13th century Preserved In use
Lielvārde Built before 1248 Ruins
Rauna Rauna parish Built before 1381 Impressive ruins
Riga Built in the 1340s Preserved In use
Salacgrīva Built in 1226 Ruins Barely visible [2]
Sigulda From 1207 to 1209 Impressive ruins
Turaida Built in 1214 Partly reconstructed
Salaspils parish Built before 1226 Ruins Barely visible
Vecpiebalga Vecpiebalga parish Built before 1318 Ruins Walls standing up to 6 metres high

Latgale

Name Town Parish Established Status Notes Refs
East of Daugavpils Naujene parish Around 1273-1277 Excavated and exposed ruins
Jēkabpils Second half of the 13th century Preserved In use
Ludza Built in the 14th century Impressive ruins
Viļaka End of the 15th century Ruins Stone castle after 1516
Rēzekne Built before 1324 Ruins [3][4]

See also

Additional information

References

  1. ↑ Zarāns, Alberts (2006). Latvijas pilis un muižas. Castles and manors of Latvia (in Latvian and English). Riga. ISBN 9984-785-05-X. OCLC 72358861.
  2. ↑ Gertrud Westermann (1990). Baltisches historisches Ortslexikon (in German). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. pp. 538–. ISBN 978-3-412-06889-9. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Saul Bernard Cohen (2008). The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: P to Z. Columbia University Press. p. 3185. ISBN 978-0-231-14554-1.
  4. ↑ Ellen Chivers Davies (1937). A wayfarer in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. R.M. McBride & company. p. 160.

Sources

External links

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