Regions of Latvia – Latgale

Coat of arms of the Latgale region. Above it, the name of the issuing state "LATVIJA" is engraved; below the arms, the inscription "LATGALE". The issue year "2017" appears on the right.

In eastern Latvia lies Latgale, one of the country's four historical regions — a landscape that differs markedly from the rest of Latvia in culture, language and religion. While the west of the country is predominantly Lutheran, Latgale has traditionally been strongly Catholic, a legacy of its centuries-long affiliation with the Polish-Lithuanian nobility and, later, the Russian province of Vitebsk. This history has left behind a distinct identity: Latgalian is regarded as an independent language with its own written tradition, and the region has a lively folklore as well as a characteristic ceramic craft culture. The capital, Daugavpils, with around 80,000 inhabitants, is Latvia's second-largest city and lies on the western bank of the Daugava — a river that has long served as an important trade artery of Eastern Europe.

The Latgale region borders Russia and Belarus to the east, underscoring its position as a bridge region between the Baltic area and the Slavic east. Latgale became part of the Republic of Latvia during the country's independence in 1918 and, apart from the Soviet period, has remained part of Latvian state territory ever since. Its demographic composition remains diverse to this day: alongside the Latvian and Latgalian population, many ethnic Russians, Poles and Belarusians traditionally live here. With its "Regions of Latvia" series, running since 2010, Latvia commemorates all four parts of the country numismatically; the 2017 issue for Latgale continues this cycle and anchors the distinctiveness of this border region in the national self-image.