Bauska

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Bauska
Town
Pils jaunais.tif
Bauska flag.svg
Bauska COA.svg
Latvia adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bauska
Location in Latvia
Coordinates: 56°24′30″N24°11′35″E / 56.40833°N 24.19306°E / 56.40833; 24.19306
CountryFlag of Latvia.svg Latvia
District Bauska Municipality
Town rights 1609
Government
  MayorAivars Okmanis
Area
[1]
  Total
10.36 km2 (4.00 sq mi)
  Land9.93 km2 (3.83 sq mi)
  Water0.43 km2 (0.17 sq mi)
Population
 (2024) [2]
  Total
9,811
  Density950/km2 (2,500/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
  Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
LV-390(1-2)
Calling code +371 639
Number of city council members11
Climate Dfb
Website www.bauska.lv/en/

Bauska ( pronunciation ) is a town in its eponymous municipality, found in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. [3]

Contents

Bauska is located 66 km (41 mi) from the Latvian capital Riga, 62 km (38.5 mi) from Jelgava and 20 km (12 mi) from the Lithuanian border on the busy European route E67. The town is situated at the confluence of the shallow rivers Mūsa and Mēmele, where they form the Lielupe River.

Average temperatures in January are −5 °C (23 °F), and 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) in July. Rainfall averages 500–650 mm (20–26 in) annually. The 80.4% of Bauska Municipality territory is agricultural land and 13% of forests.

In previous centuries, the city was known in German as "Bauske", in Yiddish as "Boisk", in Lithuanian as "Bauskė", and in Polish as "Bowsk".

The population of Bauska is estimated to be 8,200. Bauska is the centre of Bauska Municipality, a first-level national subdivision that has a population of 24,370 with an approximate density of 30 people per km2.

History

Bauska and its castle in 1706 Bauskas panorama ar hercoga pili pirms 1706. gada.jpg
Bauska and its castle in 1706
Painting of the Bauska Castle ruins with the Church of the Holy Spirit in the background, 1792 Panorama of Bauska by Johann Christoph Brotze, 1792.jpg
Painting of the Bauska Castle ruins with the Church of the Holy Spirit in the background, 1792

By the early 13th century, this territory was inhabited by Semigallian tribes. In the mid-15th century, Bauska castle was built by Germans of the Livonian Order, who then were a part of the Terra Mariana confederacy. In the shadow and protection of the castle, a small town called Schildburg grew on the narrow peninsula formed by the Mūsa and Mēmele rivers. Around 1580 on the orders of Duke Gotthard Kettler this settlement was relocated to the present location of Bauska Old Town, eventually receiving city rights sometime before 1609.

After the Livonian War, Bauska became part of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and prospered. The castle and city suffered heavily in the 17th and 18th centuries, under attacks from Sweden in the Polish-Swedish War and the Russians in the Great Northern War. In 1706, the retreating Russian army blew up the castle. In 1711, an outbreak of plague ravaged Bauska, exterminating half of the population, and war returned once more in 1812, when Bauska, after short skirmishes, became one of Napoleon's army's transit points en route to Moscow.

Between 1812 and 1914, Bauska enjoyed a period of stability, and grew as a trade centre between Riga and Lithuania. Many inhabitants were merchants or worked in ceramic-making, but there was a large brewery and sawmill as well. Bauska was still primarily built of wooden houses: in 1823, only 6 of the 120 houses within the city were built of brick or stone. For this reason, devastating fires were not uncommon.

Historically, all social affairs had been in the hands of the privileged Baltic Germans. After 1820 Jews were allowed to settle in the city, and by 1850 made up half the population, diluting the strong German influence.

The city was taken by the German Imperial Army on July 18, 1915, and roughly half the population fled (Jews were moved out on the orders of the Russian army). In 1916, the Germans installed the city's first electrical grid and built a narrow-gauge railway connection with Jelgava–Meitene Railway.

Sudmalu Street in Bauska in 1926 Sudmalu Street in Bauska, Latvia in 1926.jpg
Sudmalu Street in Bauska in 1926

During the Latvian War of Independence, Bauska experienced a couple of months of Red Army occupation, followed by the periods of rule by the Baltische Landeswehr and the West Russian Volunteer Army until it was liberated in the early hours of November 17, 1919, by the Latvian army.

From 1918 to 1940, the proportion of ethnic Latvians in the population grew strongly, making up 75% of the population, though the Jews and Germans still maintained a noticeable presence. In 1939, just before World War II, virtually the entire Baltic German population of Bauska repatriated to the recently occupied Reichsgau Wartheland, causing the city to lose one of its traditional ethnic populations. As part of the Holocaust during the June–August 1941, Bauska's other traditional minority, the Jews, were exterminated.

During Operation Bagration, the Soviet army reached Bauska on July 29, 1944. For the next six weeks, the city was defended by an assortment of Latvian policemen, forcibly mobilized Latvian Legion soldiers and Wehrmacht grenadiers. After Soviet shelling and air raids, almost one third of the city was destroyed and finally captured on September 14, 1944.

Post-war reconstruction was slow. Rubble remained in the streets until the 1950s. During the Soviet period, the population surpassed 10,000, as the Latvian and especially Russian populations strongly increased.

History of the Jewish community

Bauska was home to a thriving Jewish community in the 19th century, [4] many employed as scholars or in occupations such as baking and distilling. The town hosted several notable rabbis, including Abraham Isaac Kook, later chief rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliasberg, and Chaim Yitzchak Bloch Hacohen. [5]

In 1850, Jews made up 50% of Bauska's population, and 60% in 1881. [6] By 1920, the Jewish population had dwindled to about a sixth of the size it had been 40 years earlier. [7] In 1941, following the Nazi invasion, the remaining Jews of Bauska and environs were tortured and executed. [8]

An exhibition on the city's Jewish history was opened in 2011 in Bauska museum [9] following a conference on Bauska's Jewish cultural heritage in the 1990s. A group of Jews who were former inhabitants of Bauska proposed to establish a memorial on the site of the Great Synagogue burnt down in July 1941. In October 2017, the "Synagogue Garden," a monument/memorial created by the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia [10] and Latvian sculptor, Girts Burvis, [11] was dedicated on the site. [12]

Demographics

Ethnicities in Bauska Ethnicities in Bauska.jpg
Ethnicities in Bauska
Residents of Bauska by ethnicity
Latvians
77%
Russians
11%
Lithuanians
6%
Belarusians
3%
Poles
1.41%
Germans
0.16%
Jews
.06%
Others
2.65%

In December 2004, there were 10,178 inhabitants, 55% female and 45% male.

Tourist attractions

Bauska's Defenders' Monument

On September 14, 2012, a monument to the inhabitants of city who organized the defense of Bauska against the Soviet assault in 1944 was unveiled in the city, with inscription "To the defenders of Bauska against the second Soviet occupation on July 28 – September 14, 1944".

Twin towns — sister cities

Bauska is twinned with: [24]

Notable people

Bauska sign, Latvia Bauska sign, Latvia.jpg
Bauska sign, Latvia

Climate

Bauska has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb).

Climate data for Bauska (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1945-present)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)10.5
(50.9)
12.8
(55.0)
19.2
(66.6)
27.2
(81.0)
29.9
(85.8)
32.1
(89.8)
34.5
(94.1)
34.3
(93.7)
30.5
(86.9)
23.7
(74.7)
17.2
(63.0)
11.4
(52.5)
34.5
(94.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)−0.7
(30.7)
−0.2
(31.6)
4.6
(40.3)
12.2
(54.0)
18.1
(64.6)
21.4
(70.5)
23.9
(75.0)
23.1
(73.6)
17.6
(63.7)
10.6
(51.1)
4.4
(39.9)
0.7
(33.3)
11.3
(52.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)−3.0
(26.6)
−2.9
(26.8)
0.7
(33.3)
7.0
(44.6)
12.3
(54.1)
15.8
(60.4)
18.3
(64.9)
17.4
(63.3)
12.6
(54.7)
6.9
(44.4)
2.3
(36.1)
−1.2
(29.8)
7.2
(44.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)−5.7
(21.7)
−6.0
(21.2)
−3.0
(26.6)
1.9
(35.4)
6.2
(43.2)
10.0
(50.0)
12.6
(54.7)
11.7
(53.1)
8.0
(46.4)
3.5
(38.3)
0.1
(32.2)
−3.6
(25.5)
3.0
(37.4)
Record low °C (°F)−34.6
(−30.3)
−33.9
(−29.0)
−25.1
(−13.2)
−13.0
(8.6)
−4.0
(24.8)
0.4
(32.7)
3.5
(38.3)
1.1
(34.0)
−4.6
(23.7)
−10.8
(12.6)
−20.4
(−4.7)
−33.9
(−29.0)
−34.6
(−30.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches)38.7
(1.52)
32.6
(1.28)
28.8
(1.13)
35.0
(1.38)
47.5
(1.87)
61.1
(2.41)
80.7
(3.18)
62.8
(2.47)
52.3
(2.06)
60.7
(2.39)
47.1
(1.85)
42.8
(1.69)
590.1
(23.23)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)1089781091010111111114
Source 1: LVĢMC [27] [28]
Source 2: NOAA (precipitation days 1981-2010) [29]

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References

  1. "Reģionu, novadu, pilsētu un pagastu kopējā un sauszemes platība gada sākumā". Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  2. "Iedzīvotāju skaits pēc tautības reģionos, pilsētās, novados, pagastos, apkaimēs un blīvi apdzīvotās teritorijās gada sākumā (pēc administratīvi teritoriālās reformas 2021. gadā)". Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
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  4. "Bauska, Latvia".
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  9. "Jews in Bauska".
  10. "Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia". Jewish Community of Latvia. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  11. "Sculpture | Girts Burvis". GirtsBurvisSculpture. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  12. Umanovska, Gita (2017-10-12). "Opening of the Memorial in Bauska". Jewish Community of Latvia. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  13. "Bauska Castle and Museum". Archived from the original on 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  14. Church of Holy Spirit Archived November 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Church of the Holy Spirit".
  16. "Bauska Town Hall".
  17. "Bauska City Hall".
  18. "Bauska Museum".
  19. "Freedom monument".
  20. "Panoramio.com". Archived from the original on 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
  21. "St.Sacrament church".
  22. "Photos".
  23. "Stone of Peter the Great".
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  25. "Christies.com".
  26. "Karl Constantin Kraukling".
  27. "Klimatisko normu dati". Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre . Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  28. "Gaisa temperatūras rekordi". Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre . Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  29. "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1981-2010". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Retrieved April 4, 2023.