Pakruojis (; ) is a city in

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 ...

. It is situated on the Kruoja River, which has a dam above the city. Forty three buildings of the manor, mentioned in 1531 still survive.

History

Pakruojis and it neighbourhood are within the boundaries of the inhabited area of the Semigallian tribe. For a long time it was thought that the town was founded in 1585, when the town and Pakruojis manor were mentioned in land ownership records. This date has entered several encyclopedias. However, historian Algimantas Miškinis discovered that Pakruojis was first mentioned in 1531. On July 10, 1613 the first church of Pakruojis had inaugural service in it new building.

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

granted rights for two annual fairs. Landowners von Ropp, who owned Pakruojis Manor from the beginning of 19th century, had a great influence on the development of the city. In 1801 the oldest wooden synagogue of Pakruojis in Lithuania was built. In July and August, 1941, German soldiers with the help of local white armbanders massacred a total of 400 Jews from Pakruojis district in the nearby Morkakalnis forest. Pakruojis wooden synagogue survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It is the largest and the oldest of the wooden synagogues that survives in Lithuania, but had been in deteriorating condition for a long time. On May 3, 2009 the synagogue suffered severe damage in a possible arson fire,; it underwent restoration 2014–2016 and was reopened in May 2017. In 1950 Pakruojis was granted city rights. In 1982 a railway from Radviliškis was upgraded and narrow railway replaced with wide railway. In 1993 the coat of arms of Pakruojis was approved.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Pakruojis is twinned with: *

Mariestad Mariestad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

* Bauska,

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Notable people

Eugen von Keyserling Eugen von Keyserling (22 March 1833 in Pockroy, Lithuania – 4 April 1889 in Dzierżoniów, Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czec ...

(1833–1889), German-Baltic arachnologist * Vilma Bardauskienė (born 1953), long jumper

References

External links

Pakruojis manor
{{Authority control Cities in Šiauliai County Cities in Lithuania Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Ponevezhsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania Pakruojis District Municipality