Aizpute

Aizpute
—  Town  —
St. John Lutheran church in Aizpute built in 1253
Coat of arms
Aizpute Location in Latvia
Coordinates: 56°43′N 21°36′E
Country	Latvia
District	Aizpute municipality
Town rights	1378
Government
• Mayor	Juris Grasmanis
Area
• Total	6.9 km2 (2.7 sq mi)
Population
• Total	5 104
• Density	742/km2 (1,921.8/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	LV-3456
Calling code	+371 634
Number of city council members	11

Aizpute (German: Hasenpoth) is a town in western Latvia's Aizpute municipality in the valley of Tebra River, 50 km (31.07 mi) northeast of Liepāja.

History

It was founded as the castle of Hasenpoth of a German Crusaders order in 1248 and was granted the Magdeburg rights in 1378.

During 1611-1795 it was under the power of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as part of the Powiat Piltynski (District of Piltene), followed by the annexation by the Russian Empire during the Third partition of Poland.

Its current name is the Lettization of the German one and is officially in use since 1917.

International relations

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

Twin towns — Sister cities

Aizpute is twinned with:

• Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.

See also

• List of cities in Latvia

External links

• Photographs of the town in 2007