Naujoji Akmenė

Naujoji Akmenė ( pronunciation ) is a new town that was established in 1952 and is therefore one of the newest cities in Lithuania. Its name means New Akmenė. It is an industrial base with concrete as its main product, with Public company Akmenės cementas (English: Akmenė Concrete) producing 700,000 tonnes of concrete annually. As a new city it did initially have well-developed infrastructure. For example, a special branch of the railway had to be built for the factory needs. Also, the road network was rapidly developing before the city existed.

External links

Akmenė

Akmenė (pronounced: [ɐkmæˈːneː]) is a city in northern Lithuania.

Following the discovery of large reserves of limestone and clay in the region, in 1947 construction work began on one of the largest cement production complexes in the Baltic States. Nearby, a new town grew up which was to become the region’s administrative centre: Naujoji Akmenė ("New Akmenė").

Name

Most probably the name is derived from a rivulet that flows north of the town: the Akmenupis (approximate meaning – "river with a lot of stones"). Foreign renderings include: German: Akmene, Yiddish: אקמעיאן/Akmian, Polish: Okmiany, Russian: Окмяны/Okmiany.

History

Akmenė is first mentioned as an estate owned by the Kęsgaila family circa 1511. In 1531 a privilege was granted by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund I the Old to build a town, named Dabikinė near te Dabikinė River. It was built in Wallach reform style. The town grew fast, and by the time there were 3 streets, 82 households and 28 inns in 1561. In 1596 Grand Duchess of Lithuania Anna Jagiellon founded a wooden church.