The new lookout tower was built to blend into the overall landscape and is 38.3 meters high.
"We will be able to see it, hopefully farther away than the previous tower, which could be seen even from Rauna. Now there will be many, many more points in Vidzeme from where we will be able to see Zilaiskalns. At night, this tower will be illuminated in the mythical blue colors, we can rise high above the treetops, above the trees of Zilaiskalns and enjoy this beautiful view of Lake Burtnieks, the Valmiera region," says Nagle.
Along with the construction of the new observation tower, a health trail has been created around Zilaiskalns, which, according to Toms Treimanis, head of the Valmiera Municipality Tourism Board, is suitable for active and educational walks.
"One physical exercise is to climb the tower, to overcome fear - this is a tall tower compared to other Latvian towers, but even without visiting the tower you can walk a 3-kilometer health trail, there are 12 different points where you can exercise a little. These exercises are also designed to be a bit in line with the energetic, for which Zilaiskalns is quite famous," says Treimanis.
But the road to what is now Zilaiskalns was by no means short and easy, as Jānis Olmanis, the former head of the Kocēni parish and later the Kocēni municipality, knows best.
"Zilaiskalns has always attracted people in some way, given the fact that Zilaiskalns is itself surrounded by legends. Back in about 2000, during the time of the Kocēni parish, we realized that something was missing when we climbed the Zilaiskalns Hill - that we couldn't really see anything, well, we could enjoy the trees, but it was very difficult to look into the distance," says Olmanis.
Zilaiskalns was a sacred place of our ancestors and is also believed to be a strong energetic place, so the hill was also of interest to those who know what and how to create here.
"The first person who came to us was the diviner Totis, under whose guidance we built energy circles, and it seemed like it would be something that would call people to itself, but it was very difficult to understand how to go and what to do."
The mysteriousness of the hill has also been the basis for many stories and legends, such as that it was a gathering place for witches and that the ancient Latvian hero Imanta is buried on the hill, but it turns out that there is no shortage of new stories today.
"People came to tell us that there was a pyramid at the bottom that you had to drill to get to, others said that there was a spaceship at the bottom, they even drew what it looked like, with how many rooms, so I think that Zilaiskalns will still have that mysteriousness," Olmanis says.
When it became clear that a new tower was to be built, an archeological survey was first carried out at the top of the hill, which revealed 73 burials.
"These were medieval burials, and then the remains of these people were buried in a common grave right there in Zilaiskalns, there is also a memorial plaque, and they were buried in a solemn ceremony, with the Imantas choir," Olmanis says.
But even before the tower could be built, the old water tower at the foot of the hill was being rebuilt and is now a cultural and visitor center for Zilaiskalns, Olmanis says.
During the past Midsummer holidays, according to what Jānis Olmanis observed, there was quite a lot of interest in the new tower.
"On Midsummer, there were queues for people to climb up the tower, if I'm not exaggerating, there were 4-5 thousand people in four days, especially on the 24th, which was a very sunny and nice day, after Midsummer when people woke up and wanted to see something and go somewhere, there was a sea of cars and people, so it is a very interesting site, and at night it looks very impressive."
Before the tower was built, up to 1,600 people a month visited Zilaiskalns in the summer, but now the number is bound to grow. The most visitors come in spring when the hill lives up to its name 'Blue Mountain' and is really blue - the blue and white liverleaf is in bloom.
