Zvārde church ruins Mūšio vieta
127
The ruins of Zvārde Church are located on the territory of the former Zvārde air target range, near the so-called "Kurgan of the Officers". After a kilometre and a half, you will pass a T-junction with the Rīteļi cemetery nearby.
The first wooden church and rectory were built here in 1567, and the stone church was built in 1783 at the expense of local peasants, Kurzeme nobles and Duke of Courland Peter Byron. During the Second World War, the church roof and tower were damaged in the fighting. In 1953, when the Soviet Ministry of Defence requested the establishment of an air-target range on the site, Zvārde Church, Ķerkliņi Church and Rīteļi Cemetery were placed in the centre of the air-target range - next to an artificial airfield with access roads and defensive positions, which was used as a target by Soviet pilots. Planes flew here from airfields in Latvia and elsewhere in the Soviet Union. In less than 40 years, the church, the cemetery, the former manor house and dozens of surrounding buildings were reduced to ruins.
Panaudoti šaltiniai ir literatūra:
https://ej.uz/atklaj_Zvardi
Susijusi laiko juosta
Susijusi istorija
German army corporal Felker's account of the reconnaissance battle on 8 and 9 November 1944 at the Selješa home in Zvārde
Felker (German: Völcker) was a 20-year-old boy, serving in an intelligence division in the Nazi German army, who narrates the events of November 8 and 9, which vividly reflect the frontline events in Zvārde, where the frontline moved back and forth for 4 months, including in the vicinity of the Ķērkliņi church.
Soviet aircraft bomb Riteli Cemetery
The Riteli cemetery was actually located in the centre of the target area. The locals could only watch as they were destroyed.
Zvārdenieka's childhood in the shadow of bomb explosions - Phosphorus capsules
Spending my childhood in the vicinity of the Zvārde target range, under the sounds of explosions and flying jet planes, but still sometimes on weekends I could enter the range. After the departure of the Soviet army, the land was littered with bomb craters and many explosive objects, not only from the time of the landfill, but also from the 2nd World War. Especially the boys liked to burn phosphorus capsules ...
Zvārdenieka's childhood in the shadow of bomb explosions - the fallen plane
The use of the landfill continued until 1992, and even in March 1992, a plane that took off from Lielvārde crashed in the territory of the landfill for unknown reasons.
Mig-27D planes crashed at the Zvārde landfill and Ledurga
At the beginning of 1992, on one day, under mysterious circumstances, two "war" planes produced during the Russian Soviet era crashed at the Zvārde training ground and Ledurga, 40 minutes apart.