Nemunėlio Radviliškis is a town in

Biržai district municipality Biržai (, also known by several #Name, alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle Manor house, manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The e ...

, in

Panevėžys County Panevėžys County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is in the north-east of the country, and its Capital (political), capital is Panevėžys. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since tha ...

, northern

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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 566 people.

Etymology

The name Radviliškis is a place name derived from the last name Radvila. The town was founded in the 16th century by the Dukes of

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

and Dubingiai, the Radvila family, and is thus named after them. To distinguish it from the town of

Radviliškis Radviliškis () (; ; , ''Radvilishok'') is a city in the Radviliškis district municipality, Šiauliai County, Lithuania. Radviliškis has been the administrative center of the district since 1950, and is an important railway junction. History ...

, the town was given the designation Nemunėlis, thus referring to the river flowing through the town.

History

Two

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

enamelled bronze brooches were found in the settlement, during archeological excavations. A flat, symmetrical one with an animal head ornament and a similar round one. Nemunėlio Radviliškis was first mentioned in 4 November 1586. It was founded by the Radvila noble family. The Evangelical Reformed Church of was built in 1590, a Catholic chapel in 1719, and the Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary was established in 1782. People of different faiths –

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

- have been living together here for centuries, just like in the whole Biržai region. In Lithuania, as in all of

Catholic Europe The Catholic Church in Europe is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See in Rome, including represented Eastern Catholic Catholic missions, missions. Demographically, Catholics are the largest religious group in ...

, the Lutherans were not very popular. The Vilnius Diocesan Synod of 1744 forbade Lutherans to teach Catholic children, and intermarriage between a Catholic and a Lutheran was considered inappropriate and illegitimate. In 1729, Gruzdas, a priest of the Dominican monastery of Palėvenė, broke into and vandalised the Evangelical Reformed churches in Nemunėlio Radviliškis and Papiliai. During the war with Sweden, the town sheltered a Swedish unit that had been defeated at

Biržai Castle Biržai Castle (, ) is a 16th century castle in Biržai, northern Lithuania. It is located in Aukštaitija region, Panevėžys County. The castle was the first Italian-style bastion fort in Lithuania and one of the first in North-Eastern Europe. ...

. In 1655, the Swedish Field Marshal Levenhaupt moved with part of his army from Kuoknese to Nemunėlio Radviliškis and established a camp there. Colonel Thaler was sent with 7 companies of infantry and 200 horsemen to capture Biržai. The Biržai Castle was captured and Urquard was appointed commandant. Lieutenant Colonel Martynas Šulcas was sent to take

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

, Šventoji and Piltenė. Later, the Swedish army camp was moved from Nemunėlio Radviliškis to

Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a city in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. History In 1557, the Treaty of Pasvalys was signed in the town, which provoked Ivan IV of Russia to start the Livonian War. Pasvalys has mineral ...

. During the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

in 1794, rebels were hiding in the forests of the surrounding area, as the local population was being forcibly taken into their army. In 1804 a Catholic parish school was built. During the years of

Lithuanian press ban The Lithuanian press ban () was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet, in force from 1865 to 1904, within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications t ...

The Nemunėlis and Apasčia Association of Book smugglers was founded in secret. On 8 August 1941 the Jews of the town, about 70–80 men, women and children, were shot in Skamarakai grove. In 2006 the coat of arms of Bartininkai was adopted by a decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania.

Notable people

* Vincentas Sladkevičius (1920–2000), Lithuanian

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

References

Biržai District Municipality Towns in Panevėžys County Towns in Lithuania Ponevezhsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania {{PanevėžysCounty-geo-stub