Elva | |
Settlement Type: | Town |
Pushpin Map: | Estonia |
Pushpin Label Position: | right |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Estonia |
Coordinates: | 58.2244°N 26.4211°W |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Estonia |
Subdivision Type1: | County |
Subdivision Name1: | Tartu County |
Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name2: | Elva Parish |
Established Title: | Town rights |
Established Date: | 1 May 1938 |
Area Total Km2: | 9.92 |
Population Total: | 5616 |
Population As Of: | 2021 |
Population Rank: | 17th |
Population Footnotes: | [1] |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity |
Demographics1 Title1: | Estonians |
Demographics1 Info1: | 95.3% |
Demographics1 Title2: | Russians |
Demographics1 Info2: | 2% |
Demographics1 Title3: | other |
Demographics1 Info3: | 2.7% |
Timezone: | EET |
Utc Offset: | +2 |
Timezone Dst: | EEST |
Utc Offset Dst: | +3 |
Elva is a town in Elva Parish, Tartu County, Estonia.
Elva has two large lakes: Lake Verevi has a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer and is host to many outdoor events. Lake Arbi has wet reed grown shores. Elva's largest employer (and in all of southern Estonia) is GPV Estonia AS, subsidiary of GPV Group, providing electronics manufacturing services in industrial electronics. Elva has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade to high school graduation.
A dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is a visitors' information center and which used to be an important trade route in the past centuries.
Detailed information on hikes on foot or by bicycle can be obtained from the visitors' information center. The Elva river, with old water mill sites and rapid banks, is popular for canoeing. In winter skiers can participate in the Tartu Marathon, belonging to the Worldloppet series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.
Elva was founded soon after the completion of Tartu-Valga train route, which was built from 1886 to 1889. Elva was first mentioned in an Estonian newspaper in 1889.
Elva is named after the Elva River, which was mentioned in books already in the 17th century.
In 1913 a two-grade school was opened.
On 1 May 1938 Elva became a town.
The town center was heavily damaged in the Second World War. In July 1941 Elva was liberated by the Forest Brothers. In August 1944 surroundings of Elva became a bloody battlefield between Hyazinth von Strachwitz's Panzer brigade and the Red Army.
From 1950 to 1962 Elva was District Central of Elva district. Elva's town rights were restored in 1965.
There are seven neighborhoods of Elva:
et
) (1974–1993), poet, writer and artist; was born and lived in ElvaSee also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Estonia. The former municipality of Elva was twinned with:[3]