Elva, Estonia
Elva, Estonia
| Elva | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Town and municipality — | |||
 |
|||
|
|||
 Elva
|
|||
| Coordinates: 58°13′28″N 26°25′16″E / 58.22444°N 26.42111°ECoordinates: 58°13′28″N 26°25′16″E / 58.22444°N 26.42111°E | |||
| Country |  Estonia |
||
| County |  Tartu County |
||
| Town rights | 1 May 1938 | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 9.92 km2 (3.8 sq mi) | ||
| Population (01.01.2010) | |||
| - Total | 5,762 | ||
| - Density | 580.8/km2 (1,504.4/sq mi) | ||
| Website | www.elva.ee | ||
Elva is a town and a municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. It has a population of 5,762 (as of 1 January 2010) and an area of 9.92k m².
Elva has two larger 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.
The dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is the 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 visitors information center. Canooer’s favorite is the river of Elva with old water mill sites and rapid banks. In winter skiing fans can participate in the Tartu Cross-Country Marathon, belonging to the Worldloppet series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.
Contents |
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. In July 1941 Elva was liberated by the Forest Brothers. In August 1944 surroundings of Elva became a bloody battlefield between Hyazinth von Strachwitz's panzer brigade and the Red Army.
From 1950 to 1962 Elva was District Central of Elva district. Elva's town rights were restored in 1965.
Notable people
- Ain Kaalep, writer
- Kerli Kõiv, singer/songwriter
- Luisa Värk, singer/songwriter
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Elva is twinned with:
Kempele, Finland
Kristinehamn, Sweden- Salo, Finland
Gallery
-
The beach of Lake Verevi in Elva.
-
Elva song festival ground, Lake Arbi in the background.
-
Elva train station
-
Elva Gymnasium after a thunderstorm in 2010.
See also
- FC Elva
- ^ a b "Population figure and composition". Statistics Estonia. http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=Po0291&ti=POPULATION+NUMBER%2C+AREA+AND+DENSITY+BY+ADMINISTRATIVE+UNIT+OR+TYPE+OF+SETTLEMENT%2C+1+JANUARY&path=../I_Databas/Population/01Population_indicators_and_composition/04Population_figure_and_composition/&lang=1. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Välissuhted" (in Estonian). Elva linn. http://www.elva.ee/index.php?page=309. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Municipalities of Tartu County