Lielirbe

Village in Latvia

Village in Ventspils Municipality, Latvia

Lielirbe Livonian: Īra
Village
Village pier
57°37′08″N 22°06′24″E / 57.61889°N 22.10667°E / 57.61889; 22.10667
Country	Latvia
Municipality	Ventspils Municipality
Parish	Tārgale Parish
First mentioned	1387
Elevation	13 ft (4 m)
Population (2015)
• Total	4
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Lielirbe (Livonian: Īra) is a populated place in Tārgale Parish, Ventspils Municipality, Latvia. It is one of the twelve Livonian villages on Līvõd rānda - the Livonian Coast. The name from Latvian translates to 'Great Irbe (River)', since the Irbe flows in to the Baltic Sea at the village.

Most homes in the village are not inhabited year-round after the Livonian Coast was made into a closed border area of the Iron Curtain for fifty years during the Soviet occupation of Latvia.

Notable people

Born in Lielirbe:

Mārtiņš Lepste (Livonian: Maŗt Lepst ) (1881-1958) — Livonian sailor and teacher on the Liv coast in 1923–1938, chairman of the Livonian Union in 1924–1933.^[1]
Didriķis Blūms (1893-1970) — conductor of Lielirbe choir.
Emīlija Rulle (1910-1989) — a poet.
Valda Blūma-Šuvcāne (1923-2007) — researcher of the Livonian culture and history.

References

^ "The teaching of Livonian in the coast schools was undertaken by the Livonian sailor Maŗt Lepst, who ended up riding on horseback from town to town, teaching at each school one day a week." Virtual Livonia. History. The Second National Awakening.