Šiauliai

Šiauliai ([ʃɛʊ̯ˈlʲɛɪ̯ˑ]) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.

Names

Šiauliai is referred to by a various names in different languages: Samogitian Šiaulē, Latvian Saule (historic) and Šauļi (modern), German (outdated) Schaulen, Polish Szawle, Russian Шавли (Shavli — historic) and Шяуля́й (Shyaulyai — modern), Yiddish שאַװל (Shavel).

History

The city was first mentioned in written sources as Soule in Livonian Order chronicles describing the Battle of Saule. Thus the city's founding date is now considered to be September 22, 1236, the same date when the battle took place, not far from Šiauliai. At first it developed as a defense post against the raids by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders. After the battle of Grunwald in 1410, the raids stopped and Šiauliai started to develop as an agricultural settlement. In 1445, a wooden church was built. It was replaced in 1625 with the brick church which can be seen in the city center today.