The district of Valka has a long and colourful history and was first mentioned in historical sources in the year 1286 in the Dept Book of Riga. Many historic events took place in Valka or in the neighbourhood, and in 1560 the Russian army won the decisive victory over the Livonian Order at the battle of Ergeme near Valka.

After the cease-fire between Russia and the state of Poland-Lithuania in 1582, the entire province of Vidzeme came under Polish rule, including the inhabitants of Valka. Two years later King Stefan Batory of Poland granted town rights to Valka, and four years later the town’s Coat of Arms was confirmed. In 1721 the province of Vidzeme was placed under the command of Russia, and two years later Valka became the centre of the district. Upon the independence of Latvia and Estonia in 1920 the Court of arbitration decided to divide the city of Valka between the two countries. The Soviet occupancy of Latvia took its toll from Valka and more than 200 inhabitants were deported in 1941 and 1949.

Many important events in the history of Latvia took place in Valka. Among them are the foundation of the Latvian Red Cross committee in 1914, and the foundation congress of the Latvian Farmers Union assembled there in 1917. A year later a historic event occurred in the town as the Central Council of the Latvian Farmers Union proclaimed Latvia an independent democratic republic.

Valka City has many interesting and historic buildings and architectural monuments. Among them is the St. Catherine Lutheran Church, first built in 1477 and renovated several times after having been destroyed by fire and in battles. The house of the Barons von Wrangell family is on Riga Street and has been reconstructed several times. The Valka Culture House at Darzina Street is one of the outstanding examples of public buildings in the Vidzeme province from Latvia’s pre war independence period.

The J. Cimse Secondary School in the town of Valka

The St. Catherine Lutheran Church is situated at 8 Raina street in Valka

The burial place and monument to the composer Janis Cimze is among monuments to other famous inhabitants at the Cimze cemetery. The common graves of soldiers killed during the liberation battles of Latvia in the spring of 1919 are situated on Varonu Street. The Cubis granite monument, made by sculptor E. Melderis, was hidden during the Soviet occupation. The sculpture dedicated to the 100 years anniversary of the first song festival in Valka, ”The Kokle Players” by sculptors O. Silins and A. Voitans, and architect V. Susts, is situated in Rujienas Street. The Planci Castle Mound is situated in the south west suburbs of Valka.

In 1920 there were 2,900 inhabitants in Valka and in 1935 there were 3,300. During the Soviet period people of other nationalities were imported to the city and in 1989 the population reached 8,200, but changes in the economic structure after 1990 resulted in a decrease of population to 7,332 in 1998.

The monument to the scholar and composer Janis Cimze is at the Cimze cemetery in Valka

At present more than 900 students study at Valka Secondary School I, and the school is a working place for 66 teachers, while 400 students and 36 teachers are at Valka Secondary School II. The Evening School has 28 students at present, and 7 teachers. In the city is also the Cimze Music School, the Valka Art School, the Valka District Children and Youth Sport School and Interest Centre. A school for training young unemployed was established in 1997 with Danish partners from the sister town Dronninglund.

Active cultural life is in Valka, such as the folk dance groups Aija and Sudmalinas, the youth choir Ancora, the song group Naburgi, the amateur theatre, the children pop group, the mixed ensemble “When we are 64” and the applied art studio Saulite.

There are more than 65,000 printed matters on stock at the two Libraries in Valka and the librarians organise regular exhibitions of new books. The Valka Regional studies museum has more than 30,000 exhibits on stock, compiles information about the history of Valka town and district, and organises regular history and art exhibitions.

The official unemployment rate in Valka was 7,74% at the beginning of 1998. Entrepreneurship has been growing fast in Valka since Soviet times. The big state companies were reorganised into limited liability companies, and the products assortment changed. The number of private shops and services is increasing rapidly. They exist together with the former monopoly stores. The newly established shops, Unija, Vidzemite, Silves, Limano, Arka and several other businesses, are successful examples of the newly developed trade in Valka. There are several textiles compaies such as the fashion house of S. Jansone, the dress making company Skroders and the knitting company Larata, that are exporting successfully to foreign markets.

The town of Valka is surrounded by forests and the wood industry is very important to the community. Local companies such as Valkas MeZi, Valkas AgroKimija and Prestizs are also known outside of Latvia. Valkas MD manufactures wood processing and agricultural machinery of high quality. The financial environment in Valka is organised by the local branches of the Universal Bank of Latvia and the Mortgage and Land Bank of Latvia. Many of the town’s inhabitants are employed by government institutions.

Valka has its own football club, body building club and jogging club. The Youth and Sport School offers training in track and field, free style wrestling, judo and chess playing. Valka is the home town of several famous athletes such as, Einars Tupurits, the national record holder at 800 m, and participant at the Olympics Games in Atlanta, Iveta Pence, track and field athlete, Arturs Neiksans, a participant at the World Chess Tournament for boys, Juris Malko, a judo wrestler, and Zigurds Dics, a free style wrestler.

As Valka is a cross-border town and geographically situated on the very border of Estonia, the closest partner for the town is the Estonian counterpart, the town of Valga. Interesting co-operation traditions in many spheres have been established between the two towns in the course of time. In 1996, the cross-border ESTLA project was launched and approved by European Union. Valkas/Valgas’ leading partners in the project are the towns of Tornio in Finland and Haparanda in Sweden. The ESTLA project is only the beginning of a long lasting friendship of the four towns in the future. Other sister towns are Dronninglund in Denmark and Ekero in Sweden.