Ventspils

Ventspils is a city located at the North-West of the Latvia on the edges of the the Baltic, to 160 km of Rīga. Its name comes from the river Venta which crosses it and wants to say “the castle on Was windy”.

Ventspils was mentioned for the first time in 1290. The city was built around a castle pertaining to the Chevaliers carry-swords and became an important counter of the Hanseatic League as from the 12th century.

The international site of Radioastronomie VIRAC is located at 30 km in the north of the city. The existence of the center, creates by Soviet, was revealed with the Latvian population only in 1994, after the end of the Russian occupation.

Economy

The city is an important port from which leave oil and mining exports coming from Russia. Its development is due (just like Liepaja) to the fact that the port remains free of ice throughout the year.

The city wants to be to be the competitor of Jurmala at the balneal level and of the efforts are made in favor of tourism. In addition to the improvement of the frontages and streets of the center town, the city accommodates each year the festival of the flowers. This is done under the impulse and thanks to the capital of the oligarch Aivars Lembergs, mayor of the city since 1991, director of " Ventspils nafta" (oil company) and imprisoned in March 2007 for abuse of power, money laundering and corruption.

Twinning

External bonds

official site of the city

Be-X-old: Вэнтспілс

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