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Raseiniai is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some 5 km north from the Kaunas–Klaipėda highway.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Raseiniai is one of the oldest communities in Lithuania – the name of the settlement was mentioned for the first time in 1253. Its name was mentioned in Chronicles of the 13th and 14th centuries under various names, including Rushigen, Rossyen, and Rasseyne. In 1253 Grand Duke Mindaugas ceded one part of the Samogitia territory, including some of the district around Raseiniai, to the Livonian Order, and the rest to Christian of Oliva, the first bishop of Prussia. At the end of the 14th century the city became important centre, and its representative participated with others from the region in signing the peace treaty of Königsberg in 1390. In the 14th–18th centuries, Raseiniai was one of the most important towns in the Samogitia region, the seat of one of the trakts, or counties. Some time between 1416 and 1421 Grand Duke Vytautas erected a church in town, one of the first Catholic places of worship in Lithuania. At the end of the 15th century, Raseiniai was granted Magdeburg Rights.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Following the series of Polish-Lithuanian Unions, Raseiniai (or Rosienie, as it was styled back then) became one of the most important cities in the Duchy of Samogitia. While the seat of the starost was at Wornie (modern Varniai, Lithuania), field to the west of Rosienie called Stany was a meeting place for a local Sejmik and levee en masse. Since 1580 the local gentry was meeting there in order to choose their representatives to the General Sejm (parliament) in Warsaw. The Duchy of Samogitia could elect two (since 1764 three) members of parliament and three (since 1764 four) members of the Lithuanian Tribunal. From 1585 the town served as the permanent location of the county parliament.

In 1636 bishop of Samogitia Jerzy Tyszkiewicz financed the construction of a new baroque church. In 1645 it was extended to include a Dominican convent by two brothers: Mikołaj and Adam Stankiewicz-Billewicz. Apart from the Catholic church, the town also featured a Lutheran ("evangelical") church and a synagogue. Following the passing of the Free Royal Cities Act of 1791, the following year the town's city charter was renewed.

After the partitions of the Commonwealth
Following the Partitions of Poland, in 1795 the town, along with the rest of former Lithuanian voivodeships, was annexed by the Russian Empire and its city rights were annulled. In the Russian Empire, the town was the centre of an administrative district (uyezd) of the same name. From 1801 to 1843, the administrative district was in the Vilna Governorate, and from 1843 on it became part of the Kovno Governorate. At the end of 19th century the district had 184 thousand inhabitants, while the city itself - roughly 12 thousands.

Historically, the chief articles of commerce were wood and grain for export. Because of its geographic position and distance from the railway and the main highways, it became economically isolated. A fire in 1865 which almost destroyed the town also contributed to the city's decline in the latter half of the 19th century.

In 1831, following the outbreak of the November Uprising against tsarist Russia, the local gentry decided to join the ranks of the rebellion. The decision was generally supported by most local inhabitants since the tsarist authorities announced a general mobilisation of both gentry and peasants into the Russian army. Some of the notable inhabitants of Rosienie, including Ezechiel Staniewicz, Juliusz Grużewski, Dobrosław Kalinowski and Adam Suchorzewski started to secretly gather arms and equipment. On 12 March local inhabitants took up arms and started disarming isolated Russian garrisons. By 26 March 1831 the town had been liberated from Russian hands, as the first major town in Samogitia. Hence a local provisional government was formed. Most of local volunteers joined the ranks of regular units of the Kingdom of Poland, including the 4th Rifle Regiment and the 12th Uhlan Regiment. However, following the failed battle of Kiejdany of 29 April 1831 and the failed assault on Vilna (the battle of Ponary of 19 June 1831), the uprising in Samogitia was quelled and soon the town was retaken by the Russians.

W Rosieniach w 1775 urodził się prawdopodobnie Jakub Szymkiewicz - polski lekarz, członek honorowy Uniwersytetu Wileńskiego, członek Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, filantrop i pisarz.

Klasztor dominikanów w stylu renesansowo-barokowym  ufundowali przy kościele parafialnym w 1645 bracia: Mikołaj Stankiewicz-Billewicz – (Ciwun ejragolski, pisarz Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego) oraz Adam Stankiewicz-Billewicz – (ciwun twerski). Władze rosyjskie zamknęły go w 1884, dominikanie odzyskali go w 1935 i stanowi ich centrum litewskiej prowincji zakonu.

Pod koniec XIX wieku oprócz parafialnego kościoła dominikanów znajdowały się tu jeszcze kościół ewangelicki i prawosławna cerkiew św.Trójcy a także dwie synagogi (z 12 tysięcy mieszkańców w owym czasie połowa była wyznania mojżeszowego); przedtem byli tu także karmelici i pijarzy.

The town long had a large Jewish presence. It was among the first Jewish communities established in Lithuania, and the city, which is known in Yiddish as Raseyn, became known as the "Jerusalem of Zamut." Jews continued to settle there in large numbers throughout the 17th century.

During most of the 19th century, the greater proportion of the town's population was Jewish and it was a center of the Jewish Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement. In 1842 the city had 7,455 inhabitants, the majority of whom were Jews. In 1866 the town had 10,579 inhabitants, of whom 8,290 were Jews. In 1897 the population of the district, excluding the town, was 221,731, of whom about 17,000 were Jews. After World War I, however, the Jewish community was smaller. By 1926 2,226 Jews lived in Raseiniai, and approximately 2,000 (40% of the general population) in 1939.

During most of the World War I, the town was occupied by the German army. In the spring of 1915, the Germans concentrated Army Group Lauenstein in the area of Tilsit, with three infantry and three cavalry divisions opposing one infantry division and units of border police and Russian volunteers. The Bavarian cavalry division swept through Raseiniai on April 14 en route to Šiauliai. Refugees from Raseiniai appeared in Šiauliai on the morning of April 15 warning of the German advance.

W Rosieniach w 1775 urodził się prawdopodobnie Jakub Szymkiewicz - polski lekarz, członek honorowy Uniwersytetu Wileńskiego, członek Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, filantrop i pisarz.

Klasztor dominikanów w stylu renesansowo-barokowym  ufundowali przy kościele parafialnym w 1645 bracia: Mikołaj Stankiewicz-Billewicz – (Ciwun ejragolski, pisarz Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego) oraz Adam Stankiewicz-Billewicz – (ciwun twerski). Władze rosyjskie zamknęły go w 1884, dominikanie odzyskali go w 1935 i stanowi ich centrum litewskiej prowincji zakonu.

Pod koniec XIX wieku oprócz parafialnego kościoła dominikanów znajdowały się tu jeszcze kościół ewangelicki i prawosławna cerkiew św.Trójcy a także dwie synagogi (z 12 tysięcy mieszkańców w owym czasie połowa była wyznania mojżeszowego); przedtem byli tu także karmelici i pijarzy.

After World War I
When Lithuania regained Independence in 1918, Raseiniai became a district capital.

During World War II, Raseiniai was virtually ruined – approximately 90% of the buildings were destroyed. One survivor of the war is the Church of the Ascension of the Holy Virgin Mary, which was built in 1782. The remains of the 17th–18th century monastery buildings also serve as a monument of Renaissance architecture.

Tourists invariably pause at the "Samogitian" statue in the central town square. The sculpture serves as a symbol of the Samogitia ethnographical zone – a strong man resolutely stepping forward after having tamed a bear (an allusion to the 1831 Rebellion). On the sides of the base there are three bas-reliefs depicting the struggle with Tsarist oppression. The sculpture, which is the work of Vincas Grybas (1890–1941), was erected in Raseiniai in 1933–1934.

World War II
In June 1941, near Raseiniai, roughly 20 Kliment Voroshilov tanks of the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps met the assault of the 6th Panzer Division, with approximately 100 vehicles. A single Kliment Voroshilov-2 tank managed to hold off the German advance for a full day while being pummeled by a variety of antitank weapons, until finally the Kliment Voroshilov-2 ran out of ammunition and was knocked out.

Partner towns

 * 🇵🇱 Lubartów, Poland

Reference
Category:Cities in Lithuania Category:Cities in Kaunas County  Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania