Dikļi Village

Dikļi Village

Area: 156,6 m2

Population: 1071 (Data of Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs as of 01.07.2017.)

Dikļi as a settlement first mentioned in historical records in 1436. Historically, the Livonians, selecting Grebu and Bļodas hills as the first settlement, inhabited this territory. Probably, the name Dikļi appeared due to the adhesion of Livonian and Latvian languages. Two hills / Grebu and Bļodas / - divkalne / Livukale / - Dikāle.

Dikļi Parish is located on the N side of the Augstroze hillock of the Idumeja highland, W side of the parish - on the twisty Limbaži plain, NE side - on the SW side of the Tālava lowland of Burtnieka plain. Almost the whole Dikļi Parish is located in the Salaca basin. Briede and its tributaries - Gruzupīte, Paktene, and Mazbriede with tributary Zunda pass E frontier of the parish. Lakes: Dauguļu Mazezers, Rāķis and Mazbrenguļu Mazezers. Large high marsh massifs are located in the western part of the parish.

Dikļi is a well-known place in the cultural history of Latvia. In 1818 the Latvian theater traditions have begun in Dikļi - peasants of Dikļi Manor participated in Friedrich Schiller’s play "The Robbers", interpreted by manor servant Janis Peitans (Jānis Peitāns).

In 1864, pastor and writer Juris Neikens organized the first joint festivities or Song festival in Dikli Rectory Park (now Neikena Hill), thus putting the foundation for the beautiful Latvian tradition. The Song Festival Promenade, the permanent exposition of the Song Festival and the Neikenkalna nature concert hall was built in honor of Dikļi prominent event. On June 7, 2014, the newly built Neikenkalna nature concert hall hosted the grand event dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Song Festival, where 60 Latvian mixed choirs and male choirs - around 2000 singers - performed works of Latvian choir music classics.


Dikļi also have significant material cultural monuments - Dikļi Lutheran Church, built in 1722, and one of the neo-baroque samples in the architecture of Latvian manors - Dikļi Castle, built in the second half of 19th century and renewed in 2003.

Children and adults can see the wooden sculptures of the twenty-eight fairy-tale heroes of the writer Viks or Viktors Kalnins (Viktors Kalniņš) in Dikļi fairy-tale park. Ness and Nessiya, Rūņu Dūķītis and other characters have found home here.

There are three educational institutions in Dikļi: Dikļi Juris Neikens Elementary School, Dauguļu Special Boarding School and Dikļi Pre-school Educational Institution "Cielaviņa". There is library, cultural and tourist information center, pharmacy, doctorate in Dikļi and feldsher’s point in Dauguļi.