Jūrmala (Latvian: "seaside") is a state city in Latvia, about 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching 32 km (20 miles) and is sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a 33 km (21 miles) stretch of white-sand beach and is the fifth-largest city in Latvia.
While Latvia was under Soviet occupation, Jūrmala was a favorite holiday-resort and tourist destination for high-level Communist Party officials, particularly Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev. Although many amenities such as beach-houses and concrete hotels remain, some have fallen into disrepair. Jūrmala remains a tourist attraction with long beaches facing the Gulf of Riga and romantic wooden houses in the Art Nouveau style.
Names and administrative history
The name Jūrmala stems from Latvian jūra ("sea") and mala ("edge", "side", "margin"), thus "seaside" in English.
In 1920, soon after Latvian independence, the town of Rīgas Jūrmala ("Seaside of Riga") was established.[5] In German, it became known as Rigasche Strand and Riga-Strand (Beach of Riga), and advertised as part of Baltische Riviera (the Baltic Riviera)[6]
During World War II, Jūrmala lost its autonomy, and by 1946, it was a district of Riga.[7] In 1949, this district was enlarged to include Priedaine. Finally, in 1959, the district of Jūrmala was removed from the city of Riga and merged with the health resorts Sloka and Ķemeri to establish Jūrmalas pilsēta (City of Jūrmala).[5] In publications dating from the Soviet period, the city name was occasionally spelled in English as "Yurmala", a back-transliteration from Russian Юрмала.
As a result of the administrative territorial reform of Latvia in 2009, Jūrmala became one of the republican cities of Latvia (Republikas pilsētas), and is currently (2011) the fifth largest by population. The republican cities were replaced with state cities (Valstspilsētas) after the 2021 administrative reform.
