Daugavpils is Diversity

The gates of Daugavpils have three symbolic keys, marked in the coat of arms of the city which was approved in 1925: a river, a fortress and a lily, or, in other words, a road, a house and a prayer. These are three concepts that are not related to any particular nationality, culture or religion, but confirm the general human values ​​of the peoples living here.

Is it reward or punishment that Daugavpils has its peculiar and special fate and place in Latvia? This fate is closely linked with the Daugava, the river of fate, the ancient amber route from the Varangians to the Greeks, on the banks of which a city has grown, which, in various variations and at different times, has borne its name: Düna (Dünaburg), Dvina (Dvinska), Daugava (Daugavpils). According to the ancient etymology, the hydronym Daug-ava means a lot, and Daugavpils is indeed a city rich in waters, rich in languages, culture, denominations, and fates, it is a city where multi-ethnical and multicultural environment has been developed since ancient times, accumulating as in a hope chest experience in how to bring together people of many nationalities and many faiths, how to stay yourself without disparaging and destroying the others.

Anna Rancāne