Mazsalaca

The settlement arose due to its advantageous geographical position. From ancient times there was a crossroads of the large roads of Ruyien - Ainazi and Valmiera - Pärnu .

The first traces of the settlements belong to the fishing village of the late Middle Neolithic (about 5000 BC). Later this place is inhabited by Livs . In the toponomy of the region there are many traces of Libyan influence, for example, the name of the Salaca River .

The name Mazsalac was first found in 1861 . By 1918 the number of inhabitants of the town reached 1100 people who lived in 80 houses. After 10 years, when Mazsalac received the status of a city, 1210 people lived in 87 houses here.

The main church of the city, first mentioned in 1533 - St. Mary's Church , was destroyed during the Polish-Swedish War. In 1697, by order of the Swedish king Charles XI - restored. In 1890 , the Lutheran Church of St. Anne was built in its place ^[5] .

The city is governed by city government, which has been chaired by Ojars Bekeris since 1987 .

The city of Mazsalac is the administrative center of the Mazsalac parish . In 2012, Mazsalaca also became the administrative center of the Skankalne volost (before that, the volost administration was located in the village of Skankalne ) ^[6] .

In October 2009, the Swedish telecommunications company Tele2 , operating in Latvia, carried out an unusual advertising campaign: a small meteorite was staged near the Mazsalacea: a crater was dug, pyrotechnic effects were applied. As a result, the news of the meteorite falling during the day after October 25 attracted wide attention of the world community. However, a couple of days later it was announced that the story of the meteorite was a rally, which, according to a Tele2 representative, was supposed to “inspire the Latvian society” and draw attention to the positive news coming from the country. ^{[7] [8]}

Roads

The regional motorways P16 Valmiera - Matisi - Mazsalaca and P21 Ruyiena - Mazsalaca are suitable for Mazsalac.

Among the local roads it should be noted V163 Mazsalaca - Staicele and V164 border of Estonia - Mazsalaca - Vilzeni - Dikli .

Intercity bus service

Main routes: Mazsalaca - Valmiera - Riga ; Mazsalaca - Ruyiena ; Mazsalaca - Aloe - Limbaži .

Rail Transport

Until 2002, a passenger diesel train followed the city of Mazsalac. In Soviet times, the Riga-Pärnu-Tallinn train followed through the city, which was closed due to a fall in passenger traffic. In 2007, the Skulte-Pärnu branch was completely dismantled.

• Official site of the Mazsalac region (Latvian) (Russian) (English) (German) (Est.)
• Information about Mazsalac on the tourist portal mesta.lv (Russian)
• Information about Mazsalac in the toponymic database (Latvian)