Ikšķile Town, Latvia

Ikšķile (German: Uexküll; Livonian: Ikškilā; Estonian: Üksküla; also known as Üxküll) is a town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Ikšķile municipality. It was the first capital of the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Livonia, known by the German name of Üxküll. Saint Meinhard, known from the Livonian Chronicle of Henry, was the first bishop of Üxküll. In 1197 Berthold of Hanover, a Cistercian abbot of Loccum, was made the second bishop of Üxküll. Those days the town was the center of the upcoming crusading activities in the Livonian area. Bishop Berthold moved the episcopal see to Riga, but was killed by the Livs in battle.

The Livonian word Ikšķile (or the German Uexküll) denotes "the ford or islet(s), i.e. a place (on the Daugava River) where it was possible to cross the river, belonging to the son of the nobleman Ike”. The personal name Ike has the honourable meaning ‘age, lifetime’. The Ike family had a great power in Livonia. They controlled the military and trade traffic across the Daugava at Ykescola/Ykescole.

Other sources tell that the word Ikšķile (or the German Üxküll, Uexküll) comes from the meaning of (Finno-ugrian) Livonian word ükskül (yksikylä in Finnish). Ükskül (üks = one, kül = village) means simply just village number one, one village or The Village.

History
Ikšķile is one of the oldest inhabited regions of Latvia. This is evidenced by the mound and an ancient burial ground in the present rural area of Ikšķile. By the 9th - 12th centuries there was already a Liv village on the Daugava waterway. In 1185 Gotland's stone-mounds built the castle of Ikšķile with a chapel or church. In 1186 the upper bishop of Bremen appointed the monk Meinard, of Segeberga monastery, near Lübeck, as the first bishop of Ikšķile. Under his leadership Ikšķile became the center from which Catholicism would spread in Latvia. Both Meinard and the second bishop, Bertolt, were buried inside Ikšķile Church (Bishop Meinard was later reburied at the Dome Church in Riga). In 1201, the third Bishop of Ikšķile, Albert, moved the Livonian Bishopric Center to Riga. During the Livonian Crusade Ikšķile Castle was attacked by the Semigallian troops on the left bank of the Daugava several times, and in 1203 and 1206 Prince Vladimir of Polot tried to capture the castle.

In 1638 the municipality of Ikšķile included eight manors, the richest of which being the Ikšķile and Tīnūžu manors. By the 19th century there were two manors left in the Ikšķile municipality, the Ikšķile and Berkava manors. After the formation of Ogre, which originally belonged to the Ikšķile municipality, the area of Ikšķile parish was gradually reduced.

The castle of Ikšķile was destroyed in the 17th century, and the church (which was rebuilt many times) was destroyed in 1916 by German artillery. In 1933 a new Lutheran church was erected near Ikšķile, near the station. Due to the construction of the Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant and the reservoir, the ruins of the first stone church were preserved in the 1970s; the island on which they are now located was increased and strengthened. The ruins of Ikšķile manor, as well as a castle, are below the water of the reservoir.

Government
The head of the city government in Ikšķile is the mayor. The incumbent mayor Indulis Trapiņš.

Ikšķiles government is located at Ikšķile, Peldu street 22.

School
Ikšķile Secondary School is a Latvian State School, founded in 1966. It is also a Junior Achievement Latvia School.

The origins of the Ikšķile School date back to 1864, when the first parish school was established under the leadership of Ikšķile. The school building is named Zemturi. About a hundred years after the development of Ikšķile School it was decided to build a new school. The building of the school took place near the center of Ikšķile, next to the new A6 highway. The Ikšķile School of the Ogre District was opened in 1966. The development and growth continued, therefore additional schools were built, enabling the establishment of a secondary school. From 1989 to 1990, the school was rebuilt, and in 1990 it was named the Ikšķile Secondary School.

Ikšķile library
Ikšķile District Central Library is a library in Ikšķile, located on Peldu street 22.

The first library in the vicinity of Ikšķiles was formed and operational by the beginning of the 19th century. The first written information about the library of Ikšķile region can be found at the beginning of V. Villeruš's book "Gājums", which states that in 1852 a Reading Association with 35 members was established in the Ikšķile municipality. The library was restored in 1946, after the Second World War. There have been changes to the library over the years; in 1974, a separate children's library was created.
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