On February 11, we will celebrate Mazsalaca’s 95th birthday. at At 19.00, we invite you to the “Baritoni” group’s concert “This festive feeling” at the Mazsalac Culture Center, pianist and composer Juliāns and percussionist Anrijs Grīnbergs will also take part.
Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the Culture Center of Mazsalac and at “Biļešu paradize”, the price is EUR 3.00.
The place where Mazsalaca is located today was already inhabited in the Middle Stone Age – around 5000 BC. Later, Libyans settled in the region, and a number of geographical names of this region, such as the river Salaca, Ķirele, Iģe, Ramata, etc., also originated from the Libyan language. St. Mazsalac Mary’s church was first mentioned in documents in 1533, it was destroyed during the Polish-Swedish wars. Around 1697, the church was restored again by order of the Swedish king Karl XI. In 1890, the present Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mazsalaca St. Anna was built in its place.
In 1864, the owner of Valtenbergi manor, Arnolds Fitinghoff, leased the first plots of land to the farmers, and the construction of the first houses began. During this time, the first bridge over Salaca was also built. Presumably, this was facilitated by the geographically advantageous location – the roads of Rūjiena-Ainažu, Valmiera-Pērnava and other surrounding settlements crossed here already in ancient times.
In 1918, the population of Mazsalac reached 1,100 people, living in 80 houses. On February 11, 1928, the Latvian government granted Mazsalaca city rights.
Happy birthday, Mazsalaca!
