Alūksne, Town, Latvia

Alūksne (German: Marienburg) is a town on the shores of Lake Alūksne in northeastern Latvia near the borders with Estonia and Russia. It is the seat of Alūksne municipality. Alūksne is the highest elevated Latvian city, located in East Vidzeme Upland at 217 m above sea level. The high elevation of the city affects the social and physical arrangement of the place.

In ALŪKSNE – there is the first and the last frost, the roughest winter and the shortest summer. When the lilacs already bloom in other places, Alūksne hillocks are covered with bird-cherry blossoms. When other places enjoy jasmines, Alūksne is still in the blue foam of lilacs. If you have missed spring, you can still meet it in Alūksne, as the first anemones bloom here several weeks later than in other places, but birch-trees already turn yellow when at the seaside people still seek shelter from the sun in the shade.

ALŪKSNE is a green hillock, garden and park town situated in the north-east of Latvia, at Alūksne highland, on the shore of Lake Alūksne. The name of  ALŪKSNE  was first mentioned in 1284 in the Chronicles of Pskov. In 1920, when the number of its inhabitants reached 2000, Alūksne received the rights of the town.

In ALŪKSNE there is no production pollution, and the environment is still clean and picturesque. The proximity of nature, explicit seasons, monuments of culture and history and the necessary infrastructure and its modernization are the advantages securing a pleasant life, and Lake Alūksne provides an original and beautiful accent to it.   

The name of ALŪKSNE is closely related to the great translator and teacher, the German priest, Ernst Glück (1652 -1705) who not only translated the Old and New Testament into Latvian, but also founded the first schools for Latvian peasants' children in Vidzeme.    

We are proud of:

• the values of the German priest and teacher, Ernst Glück, preserved through the generations – Glück oaks, Alūksne Lutheran church, the Bible Museum;
• the picturesque and famous for holidaymakers Lake Alūksne with its four islands;
• the heritage of the Vietinghoff Family – the Old and the New Palace, the Manor Park with small architectural forms and various species of trees and shrubs;
• Temple Hill – an old Latgalian castle mound and place of the old town, and the Sun Bridge;
• the unique narrow gauge railway and the “little train” train commuting between Alūksne and Gulbene.

Alūksne inhabitants and visitors enjoy the romantic and colourful fountains in the park of the New Palace and the wooden bridge lit up in beautiful lights leading to Castle Island. ALŪKSNE  impresses itself on the memories of town visitors with its historical places, beautiful and tidy surroundings and hospitality of the local people. Embraced by green woods, fields and meadows, reflecting in the waters of the lake or sinking in the carpet of flowers or cover of snow, both in summer and winter, it will give a warm welcome to any visitor inviting them to listen to the sounds of nature and olden times. 
visitaluksne.lv

History
The region around Lake Alūksne was originally settled by Finnic-speaking tribes, and from the 8th-12th centuries by Latgalians. The date of settlement at the current location of the town, then known as Olysta, Alyst, and Volyst, is given in the chronicles of Pskov as 1284. The later name "Alūksne" comes from the Latgalian word olūksna, meaning a spring in the forest.

The Latgalian inhabitants of the settlement were conquered by the German crusaders of the Livonian Order in 1342. They built a castle named Marienburg (after Mary, the mother of Jesus) on a nearby island, which served to protect trade routes from Riga to Pskov. The town which developed near the castle also became known as Marienburg.

Marienburg was captured by the troops of Ivan IV of Russia in 1560 during the Livonian War. It was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1582. The town became part of the Swedish Empire in 1629.

Ernst Glück, a Lutheran clergyman and the first translator of the Bible into Latvian, founded the first Latvian language schools in Vidzeme in 1683. It is now the Alūksne Museum. The Russian army led by Sheremetyev captured the town during the Great Northern War in 1702, doing great damage to the area and deporting all the inhabitants, including Glück and his foster daughter, Marta Skavronska, who later became Empress Catherine I of Russia. After 1721 Alūksne became part of the Livonia Governorate but for many decades it was a devastated and minor settlement. Alūksne started development in the 19th century when it became a major trading centre. Further development was stimulated with opening of narrow gauge railway line Stukmaņi-Gulbene-Alūksne-Valka in 1903.

During Latvian War of Independence Alūksne was one of the first major settlements in Vidzeme which was liberated by Latvian Army in May 1919. In 1920 Alūksne was granted town rights. Since 2009 it is an administrative center of the Alūksne municipality. From 1941-1944, Aluksne was taken by Germany.

The town's island is known as Pils salas (Castle Island) and Maria Island. Alūksne Castle is now used as an open air theater.
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