Elva is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Elva Parish,

Tartu County Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Elva has two large lakes: Lake Verevi has a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer and is host to many outdoor events. Lake Arbi has wet reed grown shores. Elva's largest employer (and in all of southern Estonia) is Enics Eesti AS, subsidiary of Enics Group, providing electronics manufacturing services in industrial electronics. Elva has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade to high school graduation. A dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is a visitors' information center and which used to be an important trade route in the past centuries. Detailed information on hikes on foot or by bicycle can be obtained from the visitors' information center. The Elva river, with old water mill sites and rapid banks, is popular for canoeing. In winter skiers can participate in the Tartu Marathon, belonging to the Worldloppet series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.

History of Elva

Elva was founded soon after the completion of Tartu- Valga train route that was built from 1886 to 1889. Elva was first mentioned in an Estonian newspaper in 1889. Elva is named after the Elva river that has been mentioned in books already in the 17th century. In 1913 a two grade school was opened. On 1 May 1938 Elva became a town. The town center was heavily damaged in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In July 1941 Elva was liberated by the

Forest Brothers The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...

. In August 1944 surroundings of Elva became a bloody battlefield between Hyazinth von Strachwitz's ''

Panzer This article deals with the tanks (german: panzer) serving in the German Army (''Deutsches Heer'') throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht ...

'' brigade and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. From 1950 to 1962 Elva was District Central of Elva district. Elva's town rights were restored in 1965.

Neighborhoods of Elva

There are seven neighborhoods of Elva: *Arbimäe *Järve *Kesklinn *Kulbilohu *Mahlamäe *Moonuse *Peedu.

Notable people

Caspar Austa Caspar Austa (born 28 January 1982) is an Estonian cyclist. He competes in road racing, mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountai ...

(born 1982), cyclist * (1879–1964), actor and theatre director; lived in Elva * Valter Heuer (1928–2006), chess player and chess historian; was born in Elva * (1900–1942), writer, journalist and teacher; lived in Elva 1936–1942 * Martin Järveoja (born 1987), rally co-driver *

Ain Kaalep Ain Kaalep (4 June 1926 – 9 June 2020) was an Estonian poet, playwright, literary critic and translator. Biography and career Kaalep was born in Tartu. He studied at the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium and at the University of Tartu, from which he gr ...

(1926-2020), poet and writer; lives in Elva * Jaan Kärner (1891–1958), poet and writer; Lived in Elva 1921–1936 *

Kerli Kerli Kõiv (; born 7 February 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian singer and songwriter. Born in Elva, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid. In 2007, she re ...

(born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva * Tarmo Kikerpill (born 1977), basketball player; was born in Elva *

Kalle Kriit Kalle Kriit (born 13 November 1983 in Elva) is an Estonian professional racing cyclist who last rode for UCI Professional Continental Team . His nickname is ''Estonian Emperor''. Major results ;2002 : 1st Under-23 National Road Race Champions ...

(born 1983), cyclist * Urmas Kruuse (born 1965), politician; was born and lived in Elva, was the Mayor of Elva 2002–2007 * (1902–1970), painter; lived in Elva 1944–1970 * Karl Muru (born 1927), literary scientist and critic; lives in Elva *Jim Ollinovski ( :et) (1974–1993), poet, writer and artist; was born and lived in Elva * Hugo Raudsepp (1883–1952), playwright; lived in Elva * Erik Ruus (born 1962), actor * (1895–1979), lexicographer * (1902–1957), painter and poet; lived in Elva in the 1950s *

Luisa Värk Luisa Rõivas (née Värk; born 6 February 1987) is an Estonian singer and politician. Värk was a runner-up of on the first season of ''Estonian Pop Idol'' (''Eesti otsib superstaari''). She was also a runner-up on ''Tantsud tähtedega'', Eston ...

(born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva

Twin towns – sister cities

The former municipality of Elva was twinned with: *

Kempele Kempele is a municipality south of the city of Oulu and south of the Oulu Airport in Northern Finland. Historically it was in the province of Oulu, but today it is in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. The population of Kempele is () and the m ...

, Finland *

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 17,839 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt' ...

, Sweden * Salo, Finland * Zestafoni, Georgia

Sport

Football

* FC Elva

Gallery

Verevi-jarv.jpg, The beach of Lake Verevi in Elva. Elva laululava.JPG, Elva song festival ground, Lake Arbi in the background. Elva raudteejaama peahoone.jpg, Elva train station 8 augusti torm Elva gümnaasium.jpg, Elva Gymnasium after a thunderstorm in 2010. Apteegihoone-elamu Elvas Kesk 35.jpg, Pharmacy-house Elva kirik.JPG, Elva Church Elva 2020.jpg, railway area in Elva Peedu-Nuti vesiveski hoone 2.JPG, Peedu-Nuti watermill

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Tartu County Former municipalities of Estonia Cities and towns in Estonia 1938 establishments in Estonia Elva Parish