Elva, Estonia

Elva
Town
Elva town hall
Flag Coat of arms
Elva Location in Estonia
Coordinates: 58°13′28″N26°25′16″E / 58.22444°N 26.42111°E / 58.22444; 26.42111
Country	Estonia
County	Tartu County
Municipality	Elva Parish
Town rights	1 May 1938
Area
• Total	9.92 km2 (3.83 sq mi)
Population  (2024) [1]
• Total	5,692
• Rank	17th
• Density	570/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Ethnicity
•  Estonians	95.3%
•  Russians	2%
• other	2.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Elva is a town in Elva Parish, Tartu County, Estonia.

Elva has two large lakes: Lake Verevi, with a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer, and Lake Arbi, with wet reed grown shores. Elva's largest employer (and in all of southern Estonia) is GPV Estonia AS, subsidiary of GPV Group, providing electronics manufacturing services in industrial electronics. Elva has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade to high school graduation.

A dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is a 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 the visitors' information center. The Elva river, with old water mill sites and rapid banks, is popular for canoeing. In winter skiers can participate in the Tartu Marathon, belonging to the Worldloppet series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.

History of Elva

Elva was founded soon after the completion of Tartu-Valga train route, which was built from 1886 to 1889. Elva was first mentioned in an Estonian newspaper in 1889.

Elva is named after the Elva River, which was 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.

Neighborhoods of Elva

There are seven neighborhoods of Elva:

• Arbimäe
• Järve
• Kesklinn
• Kulbilohu
• Mahlamäe
• Moonuse
• Peedu. ^[2]

Notable people

• Caspar Austa (born 1982), cyclist
• Leopold Hansen (1879–1964), actor and theatre director; lived in Elva
• Valter Heuer (1928–2006), chess player and chess historian; was born in Elva
• Richard Janno (1900–1942), writer, journalist and teacher; lived in Elva 1936–1942
• Martin Järveoja (born 1987), rally co-driver, 2019 WRC World Champion
• Ain Kaalep (1926–2020), poet and writer; lives in Elva
• Jaan Kärner (1891–1958), poet and writer; Lived in Elva 1921–1936
• Kerli (born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva
• Tarmo Kikerpill (born 1977), basketball player; was born in Elva
• Ivan Kondakov (1857–1931), Russian chemist; lived in Elva 1911–1918 and 1921–1931
• Kalle Kriit (born 1983), cyclist
• Urmas Kruuse (born 1965), politician; was born and lived in Elva, was the Mayor of Elva 2002–2007
• Eduard Kutsar  [ et ] (1902–1970), painter; lived in Elva 1944–1970
• Tiiu Märss (née Noppel) (born 1943), geologist and paleontologist, born in Elva
• Karl Muru (1927–2017), literary scientist and critic; lives in Elva
• Jim Ollinovski (:et) (1974–1993), poet, writer and artist; was born and lived in Elva
• Hugo Raudsepp (1883–1952), playwright; lived in Elva
• Erik Ruus (born 1962), actor
• Johannes Silvet (1895–1979), lexicographer
• Peeter Sink  [ et ] (1902–1957), painter and poet; lived in Elva in the 1950s
• Magda Staudinger (1902-1997), biologist and botanist; was born in Elva
• Luisa Värk (born 1987), singer; was born and grew up in Elva

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Estonia

The former municipality of Elva was twinned with: ^[3]

• Kempele, Finland
• Kristinehamn, Sweden
• Salo, Finland
• Zestaponi, Georgia

Sport

Football

• FC Elva

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.
• 
  Pharmacy-house
• 
  Elva Church
• 
  railway area in Elva
• 
  Peedu-Nuti watermill

See also

• FC Elva

References

1. Population by sex, age group and place of residence after the 2017 administrative reform, 1 January. Statistics Estonia.
2. "LINNAOSADE JA -JAGUDE LÜHENDID". www.eki.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 18 March 2020.
3. "Välissuhted" (in Estonian). Elva linn. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2011.