The largest and most popular waterfalls in Latvia formed over the dolomites of the Pļaviņas range. These are one-level waterfalls with the height of 1.6 m. Their width is 270 m, and they are the broadest waterfalls not only in Latvia and the Baltic states, but also in all Europe. The Venta Falls are a very popular tourism object and a recreation site favoured by inhabitants of Kuldīga. Picturesque scenery opens from both banks of the Venta River, as well as from the river and the old bridge over the Venta River downwards the falls. In summer time one can cross the Venta River by walking on the upper edge of the falls.
Narrative
The Venta Falls are one of the few Latvian waterfalls, about which there are tales recorded. It is presumed that for the first time a tale about the origin of the Venta Falls was published in the tale collection compiled by F. Brivzemnieks (1887) in the Russian language. It tells us that the Latvians were fighting with the Livs, the Livs prayed their God Piktulis for help, and then the Devil went to the Brieži Shelf (Deer Shelf), seized a pile of stones, and half filled up the Venta River at Kuldīga, but while bringing the second pile, a rooster crowed, and the devil fled. From the first pile carried by the Devil the waterfalls appeared then. Another tale (No 24) narrates that Kuldīga was built by giants, but once they had a fight and thus kicked a deep pit in the Venta River, where the falls appeared, but later the giants themselves died of plague. Tales about the origin of the Venta Falls were re-published in the collection of Latvian folk tales and legends by A. Lerhis-Puškaitis. But a tale in the German language, in which the origin of the waterfalls is related to traditional Devil’s activities, was published in Bienemann Fr. jun. Livländisches Sagenbuch. Reval. (1897, tale No 7). In later years tales were often cited in various tourist guidebooks. For example, J. Delle in a touris tguidebook “Venta and Abava” (“Venta un Abava”) (1932) narrates, “The Devil decided to dam the Venta River to drown the town of Kuldīga and the surroundings. Right at midnight he went about two miles to the Brieži Shelf, where there were a lot of stones, and took a very large pile. Having brought the pile to the town and hurrying after another one, all of a sudden such a terrible noise arose, that a local chief woke up. He got up, went out of the room and saw: the Venta River was half dammed already. He understood that the Devil was performing his activities there. What to do now? Having run to the henhouse, he clapped his hands along the fur coat and crowed as a rooster. The rooster woke up, thinking that the second rooster had crowed, and started to crow himself. The Devil, having heard the roosters crow, dropped the second pile and fled. From the first Devil’s pile the Falls appeared; he dropped the second pile upwards the falls, having heard the roosters crow. There this pile of stones lay for so long until it turned into limestone. On the left bank of the Venta River, a few kilometres upwards the bridge, there is a limestone layer visible. The layer is not thick, thus it is not used.”
The most detailed description of the Venta Falls can be found in the book by A. Grīnbergs “Latvian Waterfalls and Rapids” (“Latvijas ūdenskritumi un krāces”) published in Riga in 2011.
