Iecava (pronunciationⓘ) (German: Gross Eckau) is a town on the via Baltica in Bauska Municipality, in the Semigallia region of southern Latvia.
In 1567, with the order of the Duke of Courland, a separate Iecava-Lambarte congregation was founded, for which the Lutheran Church began to be built in 1641.
Iecava became a local industrial center with copper, tar, lime, brick and coal kilns, dolomite quarries, paper mills, flax and monochrome weave weaver, and stud workshops.
Count Paul's reign brought Iecava a lively boom - at the end of the 18th century Iecava castle was built, 1795-1890. created an English-style landscape park of 17.2 hectares with a large variety of native tree species and exotic species.
Legends say that several bullets fired during the campaign have left marks still visible on the walls of Iecava Church.
Although Iecava suffered greatly during the First World War - there were only 43 homes with 139 inhabitants in the 1920s - it quickly recovered due to convenient traffic and fertile soils.
In the second half of the 1930s, Iecava had two schools, three libraries, a hospital, many commercial and industrial companies, and several associations.
On June 14, 1990, at Iecava station, the sculptor Mārtiņš Zaurs designed monument was discovered to the victims of Stalinist repression, “The pain semaphore.” The years of Soviet occupation are marked by forced collectivization.
In 1968, a combined feed plant started production, in 1973 the Iecava Poultry Factory was created (now a/s “Balticovo”, the largest producer of eggs in the Baltics).
In 1990, the Council of Members of the People of Iecava chose in favour of the parish when examining the question of changing the status of the village.
Prominent Latvians born in Iecava include Friedrich Wilhelm Matisohn (1871-1913) , Arvīds Pelše (1899-1983)