Vecpiebalga () 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 Vecpiebalga Parish, Cēsis Municipality, 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 ...

. Vecpiebalga had 501 residents as of 2017. Vecpiebalga is an important village in Latvian cultural identity. The first Latvian novel, ''Mērnieku laiki'' (The Time of the Land Surveyors), was written in Vecpiebalga by two schoolteachers, Reinis Kaudzīte and Matīss Kaudzīte. Written during the Latvian national awakening in 1879, the novel details the transition from a communal way of life to a more modern, individualistic way of life. The village was also an important center of weaving Latvian textiles. The ruins of Vecpiebalga Castle are in the village.

References

Villages in Vidzeme Populated places in Cēsis Municipality Cēsis county {{Vidzeme-geo-stub