PlungÃÂ (; Samogitian: PlongÃÂ; ) is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plunge is the capital of the PlungÃÂ District Municipality which has 33,251 inhabitants (2022). Two parts of the city are separated by the Babrungas River and two bridges are built over it.
Plungàis known for PlungàManor and its park, where the Samogitian Art Museum is located. In the Oginskiai manor park stands the Perkà «nas oak natural monument. The Lourdes grotto of Plungàwas created in 1905 and attracts visitors. In the center of Plungàstands a monument for the 10th anniversary of regaining the independence of Lithuania and a sculpture of Saint Florian built by the Lithuanian book carrier Kazys Barzdys.
The city has a crab stick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.
It is thought that the territory in which Plungàis situated was inhabited in 5thâÂÂ1st centuries BC. After the Treaty of Melno, county seats were established in the forests of Samogitia. From the 14th century to the middle of the 16th century, Plungàwas part of the Gandinga district as an ordinary settlement. Later, the population of Plungàstarted to grow faster and surpassed the population of Gandinga. In 1567 Plungàwas first mentioned as a town. It was located in the Duchy of Samogitia in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth.
On January 13, 1792, Plungàwas granted Magdeburg rights. From 1806 to 1873 Plungàbelonged to Platon Zubov, and later â to the Ogià Âski family, who built a palace here in 1879.
During the interwar period a gymnasium was established in 1925, and a railway branch-line was built in 1932. In 1933, the current Catholic Church was consecrated. Since the private hospital was founded in 1939, maternity and surgical sections started operations in the city. Lithuanian Jews were active in the town's government and comprised around half of PlungÃÂ's inhabitants leading up to The Holocaust in Lithuania.
During the 1941 June Uprising in Lithuania and the German invasion as part of Operation Barbarossa, PlungÃÂ was captured by German forces on 25 June 1941. Lithuanian nationalists, led by Jonas Noreika, seized control and formed a town administration and police force. German forces killed 60 young Jewish men, accused by the Lithuanians of being a rear guard for the Red Army, shortly after the town's capture. On 26 June 1941, the day after the Germans' arrival in PlungÃÂ, Lithuanian forces moved the town's Jews into a makeshift ghetto, while carrying out beatings, torture, murders and forcing Jews to perform heavy labor. On 13 or 15 July in the PlungÃÂ massacre, the Lithuanian nationalists transported Jewish men, women and children to ditches near the village of Kausenai where they were shot. Of the 1,700 Jews living in PlungÃÂ in 1939, very few survived and often those who were victims of the Soviet deportations from Lithuania prior to the Holocaust. Remembrance sites for the events of 1941 exist in and around the town. The Jewish holocaust survivor and sculptor Jacob Bunka was one of the town's few Jews to survive the war.
During the interwar period years of the independence of Lithuania PlungÃÂ's economic was based on the factory of fibre flax and cotton KuÃÂiskis â Pabedinskiai and also on the activities of Jewish businessmen and agricultural products made by Samogitian farmers.
After World War II and the Soviet occupation, Plungàstarted to grow rapidly â the city had 7,400 inhabitants in 1950, and by 1990 it had around 23,300 inhabitants. During the years of Soviet occupation, Lithuanians became the majority of the city's inhabitants. According to the Government's Resolution of 1963, Plungàwas to become a regional centre with a strong industry. However, these plans didn't come to fruition as it became obvious that the city did not have enough water resources, although some companies were established in PlungÃÂ. However, most of these companies bankrupted after the independence of Lithuania was announced.
The coat of arms of PlungÃÂ was affirmed by the decree of the President on June 6, 1997. In 2009 PlungÃÂ was elected Lithuanian Capital of Culture. Nowadays PlungÃÂ is the sixteenth largest city of Lithuania having 22,287 inhabitants.
The origin of the name PlungÃÂ is not clear. The most likely theory is that its name comes from the river Paplunga which flowed through the city.
The city's name is Pà Âungiany in Polish, Plongàin Samogitian, and Plungyan (äÃÂÃÂàÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ) in Yiddish. It was also known as ÃÂûÃÂýóÃÂýà(Plungyany) in Russian in the past.
Highways near the city are:
Plungàhas a railway station. Trains going by the route VilniusâÂÂKlaipÃÂda and Radvilià ¡kisâÂÂKlaipÃÂda stop there.
Football club "FK Babrungas PlungÃÂ" plays in Lithuanian Football Federation's 2 League's Western Zone. The team plays in the Central Stadium of PlungÃÂ.
Basketball club "Olimpas PlungÃÂ" plays in National Basketball League. The team was established in 1989. In 1997, BC Olimpas played in the Lithuanian Basketball League finals, where they lost to BC à ½algiris Kaunas. Afterwards, the team did not appear in national competitions until 2011. Olimpas Plungàstarted to play in Regional Basketball League and won gold medals in 2012 and qualified to the National Basketball League. In 2012-2013 National Basketball League's regular season team finished 3rd amongst 18 teams, however it lost the quarter-finals series 2-0 to BC à ½algiris Kaunas 2. Team plays in "SS à ½emaitijos Suvenyras" arena, which has a capacity of 200 people.
PlungÃÂ is twinned with:
Former twin towns (until 2022):