15 Interesting Facts About Liepāja

Interesting Facts About Liepāja

Facts About Liepāja

  1. Liepāja is a city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils.
  2. The Population of Liepāja is 68,945, as of 2019.
  3. Russian Tsar Peter the Great stayed in Liepāja in 1697.
  4. In 1979 a part of the film Moonzund was filmed in the town.
  5. Liepāja is twinned with: Nynäshamn, Sweden; Elbląg, Poland; Bellevue, Washington, USA; Darmstadt, Germany; Homyel, Belarus; Klaipėda, Lithuania; Gdynia, Poland; Årstad (Bergen), Norway; Palanga, Lithuania; Helsingborg, Sweden & Guldborgsund, Denmark.
  6. The first settlement at the location of modern Liepāja was known by the name Līva from the name of the river Līva on which Liepāja was located. The name was derived from the Livonian word Liiv meaning “sand”. The oldest written text mentioning Līva village is the treaty of bishop of Courland and the master of the Livonian Order dated 4 April 1253.
  7. Liepāja is famed for its Art Nouveau architecture. The city boasts an Art Nouveau theatre, schools and houses.
  8. The coat of arms of Liepāja was adopted four days after the jurisdiction gained city rights on 18 March 1625.
  9. The largest drum set in Latvia is found in the Seaside Park at the end of Peldu street.
  10. Liepāja was the capital city of Latvia for a short time in 1919, when the Latvian Provisional government was located onboard the steamship “Saratow” in the Port of Liepāja after a coup d’état by the German Army.
  11. The largest mechanical organ in the world is housed in Liepāja’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Catehdral.
  12. Liepāja is home to the oldest electric tram in the Baltics, the tram has been running in since 1899. 
  13. Liepāja is the first city to acquire the title of the European City of Sport.
  14. The world’s largest unreconstructed mechanical organ in the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
  15. The wooden altar of St. Anne’s Lutheran Church is the largest and artistically the most significant wood-carving in Baroque style in Latvia.
Interesting Facts About Liepāja
Interesting Facts About Liepāja