Story
The story of Venta Rapid
Kuldīga used to be called the town where one can catch salmon in the air. Around 1640, Duke Jacob Kettler ordered 100 large wicker baskets for the falls. When salmon and sturgeon leapt to get over the drop and failed, the current swept them back and into the hanging baskets. Before you is Venta Rapid, the widest waterfall in Europe: 249 metres across, and up to 275 metres in spring floods, yet only about two metres high.
Its Devonian dolomite wears away from below, so the falls slowly retreat upstream. The town grew up here because the falls blocked the medieval shipping route on the Venta. Duke Jacob tried to dig a bypass, but the dolomite was too hard. Legend says he even tried to blast the falls, until the explosion cracked the walls of his own palace.
Folk tales say the devil made the falls by spilling his bag of stones when a rooster crowed. In 1977 the falls became a natural monument of Latvia.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Kuldīga
- Kuldiga CastleKuldīga Castle also Goldingen Castle and Jesus Castle was a medieval castle of the Livonian Order in historical Courland in town Kuldīga near Venta Rapid.
- Māras kambariA sandstone outcrop with three caves and a waterfall in Ģibuļi Parish, Talsi Municipality; it is reached by a walk of about 850 metres through the forest from the Sabile–Kuldīga road.
- Kuldīga vaulted bridgeA brick arch bridge over the Venta in Kuldīga, about 200 metres downstream of the Venta Rapid; one of the town's symbols.
- Alsunga CastleAlsunga Castle is a castle in Alsunga village, in Alsunga Parish, Kuldīga Municipality, in the Courland region of Latvia. It was built for the Livonian Order during the first half of the 14th century.
- Ēdole CastleĒdole Castle is a Gothic Revival castle situated on the banks of Ēdole Lake, in the Ēdole Parish of Kuldīga Municipality, in the Courland region of Latvia.
- Riežupe Sand CavesA labyrinth of artificial caves cut into white sandstone near Kuldīga; a former mine, now a show cave, with passages about 350–460 metres long in total.