Dagda, Latvia

Template:Template other Dagda (Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handler) is a town in Dagda Parish, Krāslava Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia, near the country's border with Belarus. It is the administrative center of Dagda Parish.

Climate

Dagda has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb). In March 1972, the deepest ground frost in Latvia was registered in Dagda - Template:Cvt.

History

Dagda as an ancestral estate was founded in the 17th century by Johann Franz von Gilsen, Chancellor of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. He established the first Catholic community here and built a wooden church. This marked the beginning of the written history of the settlement.

The last local representative of the Gilsen family, Jerzy, died in 1788. His widow sold the estate to the Bujnicki family. The most notable of them, writer and publicist Kazimierz Bujnicki, made a significant contribution to the region's culture and was one of the initiators of the abolition of serfdom in Latgale.

In the early 19th century, the Dagda estate became home to a unique library, an archive, and a collection of artworks and archaeological finds accumulated by the Gilsen and Bujnicki families. All of this was destroyed during the Polish January Uprising of 1863–1864 when the estate was burned down. Only the park with its dug canals survived.

According to the 1897 census, the town of Dagda had a population of 1,516 people, including 1,026 of Jewish faith and 377 Roman Catholics.

See also

• List of cities in Latvia