Balvi

a city; center of Balvi Raion, Latvian SSR, located in the northeast of the republic, on the Balupa River (basin of the Daugava), 6 km from the Balvi railroad station (on the Riga-Pytalovo line). Population, 4,700 (1969). It has a meatpacking combine and a creamery. The first mention of Balvi as a settlement dates to 1224; it became a city in 1928.