Madona Municipality
Lake Lubāns: 10,000 years of human habitation, 27 Stone Age sites, Europe's largest Neolithic amber processing center. Gaiziņkalns: Latvia's highest point (311.6m).
Madona contains Latvia's highest point (Gaiziņkalns, 311.6m) and its oldest continuously inhabited site. Lake Lubāns hosted human settlement 10,000 years ago—archaeologists have found 27 Stone Age sites and evidence that this was one of Europe's largest Neolithic amber processing centers.
Lake Lubāns is also Latvia's largest lake: up to 14 km long, 9 km wide, with 225 bird species recorded in the surrounding wetlands. The Lubāna castle (first mentioned 1455) was destroyed in the Livonian War of 1577, like so much else in the region. Cesvaine Palace stands beside medieval castle ruins from the bishops' era.
The name "Madona" possibly derives from Lake Madona or from the German name for Birži Manor—"Madohn." The town was first mentioned in 1461 when the Archbishop began renting manor lands. Through Swedish and Russian control, it remained a modest agricultural settlement tied to noble estates.
The 2021 administrative reform merged Madona with Cesvaine, Ērgļi, and Lubāna municipalities. Varakļāni joined in 2025. By 2026, Madona's challenge is whether Stone Age heritage and Latvia's highest hill can generate tourist interest—or whether the municipality remains a quiet corner where humans have lived for 10,000 years without making much noise.