Mālpils () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Mālpils Parish Mālpils () is a village in the Mālpils Parish of Sigulda Municipality, in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Mālpils had 1,838 residents as of 2020. History Between 1386 and 1413 the fortress Lemburg of the State of the Teutonic Order, Teuto ...

Sigulda Municipality Sigulda Municipality () is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2003 by merging Sigulda town, Sigulda Parish and More Parish. In 2009 it absorbed Allaži parish, too; the administrative centre being Sigulda. The po ...

, in the

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...

region of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. Mālpils had 1,838 residents as of 2020.

History

Between 1386 and 1413 the fortress Lemburg of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

was created. From the 15th century on there was a church. In 1577 the castle was occupied by troops of the Danish prince

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

. The village was built around the Good Lemburg, which was established after the Swedish conquest in 1622. Already before 1613, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor is attested. In 1693 there was a community school. The governor of Livonia Gustav von Taube became owner in 1760 and built larger parks. In 1766 a stone church was built. In 1845, many of the local peasants changed denominations and established a Russian Orthodox community. After the mansion had been burnt down during the Russian Revolution in 1905, a reconstruction in the classicist style began after the plans of Wilhelm Bockslaff. In 1920, the property was expropriated and divided into 166 farms for new settlers. The mansion served as a school and recreation home for soldiers. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was a school for construction engineering and later the administration of a

sovkhoz A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated from , ''sovetskoye khozyaystvo''; ) was a form of state-owned farm or agricultural enterprise in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted w ...

. During this time, the population, which in 1935 had still consisted of 279 inhabitants, grew to over 2500. The restored estate buildings were opened in 2008 for the 150th anniversary of the architect Bockslaff and now serve as an exclusive hotel.

Etymology

The place appears as ''Lehmborch'' (1466), ''Leemborch'' (1498), ''Lemborch'' (1530) and Latvian ''Mahlpils'' (1909) in documents. The resident Liven called the place ''lembit-urga'', which means something like "chief river". In terms of folklore, the German crusaders made it "Lehmburg". The Latvian name in turn is a translation: "clay castle" - Latvian ''Māls-Pils''. There are also stories that the Latvian peasants used to call the castle Mārpils because a girl named

Māra Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, the ancient Dawn-goddess, previously called Austra, and, not at all, although often stated, the same as Zemes māte ( Mother Earth, pace). Names Alternative names: Māre, Mārīte (d ...

was walled into the castle by

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

Mālpils Novads (2009-2021)

The municipality of Mālpils was designated as Mālpils novads in 2009 as part of an administrative reform without territorial change. In addition to the main town are the villages Sidgunda (459 inhabitants), Upmalas (157 inhabitants), Vite (52 inhabitants) and Bukas (39 inhabitants) in the district. The remaining 4039 inhabitants (as of 2009) live on individual farms or in smaller settlements. The rivers Mergupe and Suda flow through the district, ending in the big Jugla. On the 220.9 km² large territory there are several

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s with more than 1000 hectares.

Gallery

Mālpils mõisahoone.JPG, Mālpils manor back Mālpilsi ordulinnuse asupaik 02.JPG, Location of former Mālpils castle Lutheran church in Mālpils.JPG, Lutheran church in Mālpils Mālpilsi kultuurimaja.JPG, Cultural house

Notable people

Johann Gottlieb von Wolff Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

* the alternative rock band

aPēdājs aPēdājs is a Latvian alternative rock, metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malpils Villages in Vidzeme Riga county Populated places in Sigulda Municipality