Discover

'Koknese' ( ()), is a town in Aizkraukle County, Latvia on the right bank of the Daugava river. It has a population of nearly 3,000.

Contents

History

Sights

Foreign names

External links

History

The site of Koknese was originally a Latgalian and Selonian settlement named 'Kukenois'. By the late 12th century, the settlement of Kukenois had fallen under the loose sovereignty of Principality of Polatsk as a tributary sub-principality. At the beginning of the 13th century, Germans led by Albert of Buxhoeveden and the crusading Livonian Order began to occupy the shores of the Gulf of Riga.
In return for protection against Lithuanians and Polatsk, the Russian prince Vyachko (Vetseka) of Kukenois gave half of his land to Albert in 1205. By 1209 Kukenois had been taken over by the Order, whereupon Albert ordered the construction of a stone castle where the Daugava meets the Pērse river to replace the wooden fortification of the Latvians. The formal sovereignty of Polotsk was finally revoked in 1215. The Order then controlled the town until its transferrance in 1238 to the bishops of Riga.
The town, known in German as 'Kokenhusen', received its town privileges in 1277. During the 14th century, Kokenhusen flourished as part of the mercantile Hanseatic League. The town became the summer residence of the Archbishop of Riga in 1420 and the primary residence in the 16th century.
The castle was frequently a source of dispute between the bishops and the von Tiesenhausen family, which it had been granted to as a fief in 1269. They were supported by the Teutonic Order, as noble possession of the castle weakened the power of their rivals in the bishopric. Archbishop John V of Wallenrodt was able to resolve the conflict and restore the territory to the church in 1397.
During the Livonian War, Kokenhusen was taken by Poland in 1561, who named the town 'Kokenhuza'. Although Muscovite forces captured the town, it was recovered by Polish forces. During the 17th century Polish-Swedish Wars, the town was repeatedly contested. It was the site of the Battle of Kokenhusen in 1601, in which the hussars of the Polish cavalry defeated their numerically greater Swedish adversaries. However, the town became part of the Dominions of Sweden in 1629 and was refortified by the Swedes. During the Great Northern War the castle was conquered by Saxony in 1700 and destroyed by the Saxons when they were forced to retreat before the Swedes in 1701. By war's end Kokenhusen was incorporated into Imperial Russia with the rest of Livonia. Although the Russians had been calling it 'Kukeinos' from the 13th century, they chose to keep the German name.
A railway line running through Koknese was completed by 1861, allowing the town to become a recreational site. The Baltic German von Löwenstern family constructed a Neo-Renaissance manor castle which was completed in 1894; however, it burned down during the Russian Revolution of 1905. The Latvian playwright Rūdolfs Blaumanis lived in the town during the 1880s. After Latvian independence from Russia was declared after World War I, a hill in the town was dubbed "Professor's Hill" owing to its popularity as a meeting place for intelligentsia. By then the town was known by the Latvian name 'Koknese'.
The Pļaviņas hydroelectric plant was commissioned near the town in 1966. Its construction left the foundation of the castle ruins underwater. Koknese is a participant in the New Hanseatic League, an association with the goal of developing the economy and tourism of its constituent cities.
The Coat of arms of Koknese depicts a boat, a key, and a crosier.

Sights

The Koknese Manor Park, located over parts of the medieval town and castle ruins, contains the tallest wooden sculpture in the country. The structure, built by Ģirts Burvis, was opened in 2002 to commemorate the 725th anniversary of the town's foundation.

Foreign names

★

★

External links

★ Municipal website

★ Koknese Park

★ Coat of arms of Koknese

★ Ruins of Koknese castle

★ Commemorative coin of Hanseatic Koknese

★ Koknese map

★ Koknese castle on wikimapia