Alüksne
Alüksne
a city, the administrative center of the Alūksne Raion of the Latvian SSR. It is located in the northeast of the republic, on the southern shore of Lake Alūksne, and has a population of 8,600 (1968). Alūksne is also the name of a railroad station on the Gulbene-Valka line, 204 km northeast of Riga. A branch of the Riga VEF, plant enterprises of the lumber and food industries, and a branch of the Madona Museum of Regional Studies and Art are located in Alūksne. Alūksne was first mentioned in chronicles in 1284. A castle, the ruins of which remain, was built there on an island in the middle of the 14th century.