Rudamina is a small town in

Alytus County Alytus County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is the southernmost county, and its Capital (political), capital is the city of Alytus. Its territory lies within the Regions of Lithuania, ethnographic region of Dz� ...

in southern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. As of 2011 it had a population of 256. Rudamina

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

, one of the most prominent hill forts of ancient

Yotvingians Yotvingians, also called Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians, were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prussians. The linguist Petras Būtėnas asserts that they were closest to the Lithuanians. The Yotvingians contributed ...

, is located about 1 km southwest of the town. Nearby

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

were dated to 3rd–4th century AD. The town traces its history to 1576 when Massalski family established an estate and began cutting down the forest. In 1592, the Massalkis built a Catholic church; the present-day church was built in the 1770s. The town received

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...

in the early 17th century. However, Rudamina never grew larger as it was overshadowed by nearby Lazdijai and

Šeštokai Šeštokai is a small town in southern Lithuania. Infrastructure The town is a transport hub as it hosts Šeštokai Intermodal freight transport, Intermodal Terminal and has dual gauge track as well as break-of-gauge for the Standard gauge, 143 ...

with its train station. Its population was 269 in 1800, 256 in 1923, 329 in 1959, 367 in 1979.

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Alytus County {{AlytusCounty-geo-stub