Plungė

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Plunge.

Plungė

Coat of arms

Plungė

Location of Plungė

Coordinates: 55°55′N 21°51′E / 55.917, 21.85

Samogitia

Plungė district municipality

Elderate

Plungė town elderate

Capital of

Plungė district municipality
Plungė town elderate
Plungė rural elderate

First mentioned

1567

Granted city rights

1792

Population (2007)

- Total

23 138

- Rank

16th

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

- Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Plungė (pronunciation (help·info)) is a city in Lithuania, with 23,246 inhabitants. It has a crabstick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.

Before the Second World War, Plunge had a large Jewish population.

[edit] History

It is thought that the territory in which Plungė is situated was inhabited in 5-1 centuries BC. After the Treaty of Melno country seats were started establishing in the forests of Samogitia. From the 14th century to the middle of the 16th century, Plungė was a part of Gandinga volost as an ordinary settlement. Later, the population of Plungė started to grow faster and surpassed the population of Gandinga. In 1567 Plungė was mentioned as a town.

On January 13, 1792, Plungė granted Magdeburg rights. From 1806 to 1873 Plungė belonged to Zubovai, and later - to Oginskiai, who builded a palace here in 1879.

The coat of arms of Plungė was affirmed by the decree of the President on June 6, 1997.

[edit] Twin cities

[edit] Famous people

A historian Zenonas Ivinskis (1908–1971) was born here
An actor Karolis Dapkus was born here
muzikantas Petras Vyšniauskas, gimė Plungėje
Famous Lithuanian composer and artist M. K. Čiurlionis (1875–1911) had lived here at the end of the 19th century
Gediminas Jaunius (1978), TV shows announcer and politician, was born here
Mis Lithuania 2007 Jurgita Jurkutė (1985) was born here
Česlovas Gabalis
Wanda Rutkiewicz (1943–1992), one of the most famous world alpinists, the first female alpinist who had climbed to K2.