Ventspils

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Ventspils

Ventspils (, formerly Виндава; German: Windau, Polish: Windawa, Livonian: Vǟnta) is a city in northwestern Latvia on the coast of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Venta River, which passes through the city. Ventspils's population was estimated in 2004 to be about 39,600. It is located at .

Ventspils developed from a castle of the Livonian Order and was first mentioned in chronicles in 1290. It was chartered in 1314 and became an important mercantile city of the Hanseatic League.

Ventspils is an important ice-free port. Large amounts of oil and other mineral resources from Russia are loaded aboard ships at Ventspils. The revenue from port services has made Ventspils the wealthiest city in Latvia.

Thirty kilometres north of Ventspils is the ex-Soviet radioastronomy installation VIRAC (Ventspils Starptautiskais Radioastronomijas Centrs or Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre). The existence of the Centrs was unknown to most Latvians until the withdrawal of the Soviets at the end of occupation in 1994.

The city has a university college, Ventspils Augstskola, and a basketball team that has won the Latvian championship in the last several years. In the 2001/2002 season, the team took third place in the NEBL.

Ventspils Airport, one of the three international airports in Latvia, is located in the city.

Ventspils' mayor is Aivars Lembergs.

Sister cities

Ventspils maintains sister city relationships with the following cities:

Vesterviik, Sweden

Stralsund, Germany

Lorient, France

External links

Cities in Latvia

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Sister cities

See also

External links