Cēsis

This default description comes from wikipedia
Csis (Latvian pronunciation: [tsesis] ), (German: Wenden, Livonian: Venden, Estonian: Vnnu, Polish: Kie) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Csis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Csis was selected to be one of the candidate cities for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2014 (Riga was the Latvian city that won the title).== Castle ==The oldest settlement in Csis is the hillfort on Riekstu hill, a fortified wooden castle built by a tribe known as the Vends. The 18-metre-high (59.06 ft) mound with its partly preserved fortification system can still be seen in the Castle Park. This settlement was located near major trade routes from west to east and dominated the regional countryside.German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of a castle Wenden near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the residence for the Order's Master. In 1577, during the Livonian War, the garrison destroyed the castle to prevent it from falling into the control of Ivan the Terrible, who was decisively defeated in the Battle of Wenden (1578). In 1598, it was incorporated into the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth and the Wenden Voivodeship was created.