Aizkraukle

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Aizkraukle is a city in Vidzeme region in Latvia, the administrative centre of Aizkraukle municipality on the right bank of the Daugava River.

Before the World War I was formerly known by its German name of Ascheraden. The ancient hillfort of Livs was used by the German knights for the building of Aizkraukle Castle in the Middle Ages, of which some ruins still remain.

The present town of Aizkraukle was built in the 1960s as a village for the builders of the nearby hydroelectric power plant of Pļaviņas. It became a town and the centre of the later Aizkraukle District in 1967. It was initially named Stučka (after a Latvian communist) during the Soviet era. In 1991 it was renamed Aizkraukle, the historical local name.

City has about 11,000 inhabitants.