à  iauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the country's fourth largest city and the sixth largest city in the Baltic states, with a population of 112,581 in 2024. From 1994 to 2010, it was the capital of à  iauliai County.
à  iauliai is referred to by various names in different languages: Samogitian ; Latvian (historic) and (modern); Polish ; German ; Belarusian ; Russian (historic) and (modern); .
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 22 September 1236, the same date when the battle took place, not far from à  iauliai. At first, it developed as a defence post against the raids by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders. After the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the raids stopped and à  iauliai 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.
à  iauliai was granted Magdeburg city rights in the 16th century when it also became an administrative centre of the area. However, in the 16th to 18th centuries, the city was devastated by The Deluge and epidemics of the Bubonic plague.
The credit for the city's rebirth goes to Antoni Tyzenhaus (1733âÂÂ1785) who, after a violent revolt of peasants of the Crown properties in Northern Lithuania (so-called in Polish: Powstanie Szawelskie, 1769), started the radical economic and urban reforms. He decided to rebuild the city according to the Classicism ideas; at first, houses were built randomly in a radial shape, but Tyzenhaus decided to build the city in an orderly rectangular grid. à  iauliai grew to become a well-developed city, with several prominent brick buildings. In 1791, Stanisà Âaw August Poniatowski, king of the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth, confirmed once again à  iauliai's city rights and granted it a coat of arms which depicted a bear, the symbol of Samogitia, the Eye of Providence, and a red bull, the symbol of the Poniatowski family. The modern coat of arms has been modelled after this version.
After the Partitions of Poland, à  iauliai received a new coat of arms. The city grew and became an important educational and cultural centre. Also, infrastructure was rapidly developing; in 1836âÂÂ1858, a road connecting Riga and Tilsit was built, while in 1871, a railroad connecting LiepÃÂja with Romny was built. à  iauliai, being on the crossroad of important merchant routes, started to develop as an industrial town. Already in 1897, it was the third-largest city in Lithuania, with a population of about 16,000. The demographics changed also; 56.4% of the inhabitants were Jewish in 1909. à  iauliai was known for its leather industry. Chaim Frenkel owned the biggest leather factory in the Russian Empire.
During World War I, about 85% of the buildings were burned down and the city centre was destroyed. After the war and re-establishment of Lithuania, the importance of à  iauliai grew. Before KlaipÃÂda was attached to Lithuania, the city was second after Kaunas by population size. By 1929, the city centre was rebuilt. Modern utilities were also included; streets were lit and there was public transportation, telephone and telegraph lines, a water supply network and a sewer.
The first years of independence were difficult because the industrial city lost its markets in Russia. It needed to find new clients in Western Europe. In 1932, a railroad to KlaipÃÂda was built and it connected the city to the Western markets. In 1938, the city produced about 85% of Lithuania's leather, 60% of footwear, 75% of flax fibre, and 35% of candies. Culture also flourished as many new periodicals were printed, new schools and universities opened, a library, theatre, museum, and conventional school opened.
In 1939, one-fifth of the city's population was Jewish. German soldiers entered à  iauliai on June 26, 1941. The first mass murder of à  iauliai Jews was perpetrated in the Kuà ¾iai forest, about 12 kilometres outside à  iauliai, on June 29, 1941. According to one of the Jewish survivors of à  iauliai, Nesse Godin, some 700 people were shot in nearby woods during the first weeks of occupation after having been forced to dig their own graves. Beginning on July 29, 1941, and continuing throughout the summer, the Germans murdered about 8,000 Jews from à  iauliai and the à  iauliai region in the Kuà ¾iai forest. One hundred twenty-five Jews from Linkuva were also murdered there, along with ethnic Lithuanian and Russian members of the Communist Party and the Communist Youth.
The à  iauliai Ghetto was established in July 1941. There were two Jewish ghetto areas in à  iauliai, one in the Kaukas suburb, and one in Trakà ³. During World War II, the Jewish population was reduced from 8,000 to 500. Approximately 80% of the buildings were destroyed.
The city was largely rebuilt anew in a typical Soviet fashion during the years of subsequent Soviet occupation.
The Mayor of à  iauliai, officially the Mayor of the municipality of the city of à  iauliai (Lithuanian: "à  iaulià ³ miesto savivaldybÃÂs meras"), is the head of the Lithuanian municipality of the city of à  iauliai. The current incumbent is Artà «ras Visockas, who has been mayor since 2015.
à  iauliai is located in the eastern part of the northern plateau, Mà «à ¡a, Dubysa, and Venta River divide. There is a distance of to get to Vilnius, to Kaunas, to KlaipÃÂda, to Riga, and to Kaliningrad. The total city area is , with the green areas making up and water covering . Urban land outside the perimeter of the administrative .
Altitude: Lake RÃÂkyvos water level â above sea level, Talsos lake level â in the city center â , SalduvÃÂs Hill â above sea level.
The total water area â 1,280 ha, 15.7% in urban areas.
Under the Köppen climate classification, à  iauliai has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb). The average temperature in January; in July; +. The amount of precipitation in a year â .
In 1942, the city recorded the lowest Lithuanian year mean temperature (+3.6 ðC).
In 1795, there were 3,700 people living in à  iauliai, rising to 16,128 by 1897, when it was the third-most populous city in Lithuania after Kaunas. The Jewish population of à  iauliai rose steadily through the second half of the nineteenth century, from 2,565 in 1847 to around 7,000 by the century's end. By the outbreak of World War I, 12,000 of the town's inhabitants were Jews, making à  iauliai majority Jewish. A battlefield during World War I, à  iauliai saw thousands of its Jewish citizens flee, never to return. In 1923, à  iauliai population's was third to that of Kaunas and KlaipÃÂda.
According to the 2021 census, the city population was 100,653 people, of which:
Beginning in the 19th century, Ã Â iauliai became an industrial centre. During the Russian Empire period, the city had the largest leather factory in the whole empire, owned by Chaim Frenkel. Ã Â iauliai contributed to around 85% of all leather production in Lithuania, 60% of the footwear industry, 75% of the flax fibre industry, and 35% of the sweets industry.
During the Soviet years, the city produced electronics (Nuklonas), mechanical engineering, wood processing, construction industry. Most of the industrial enterprises were concentrated in urban areas.
According to 2005 data, the city has:
In 2020, construction of Europe's largest aircraft maintenance and repair centre began on the territory of à  iauliai International Airport. The related company repairs Airbus A320, Boeing 737 Classic, and Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft and also provides aircraft administration and parking services. It is planned that the centre will create 1000 new jobs.
Students in the city (in 2006):
There are 8 gymnasiums, 7 high schools, 16 secondary schools, 7 primary schools, 9 children's non-formal education schools, and 29 kindergartens. 21,000 students studied in general education schools in 2006.
The city park to the creation of Anton Tyzenhaus essentially graduated Vladimir Zubov. The 19th-century park was of a rectangular shape and was similar to English-style freely designed parks. For a small fee, citizens were allowed to walk in the park. In 1931, the Park and Alley chestnut was officially donated to the à  iauliai city municipality.
à  iauliai has 16 parks, covering an area of 1,177 hectares. Didà ¾dvario province and RÃÂkyvos parks add to the cultural values of the registry.
à  iauliai has always been a major intersection. The famous SaulÃÂs battle took place near a trade route from Riga to Bubiai and TauragÃÂ. Between 1836 and 1858, the RigaâÂÂTilsit (Sovetsk) highway was built near it. Around 1912, the first cars appeared on the city's streets.
Highways passing through à  iauliai :
In 2006, à  iauliai had of roads, of which 32% had a gravel surface. The longest streets are Tilà ¾ÃÂs street â and Vilnius street â with of it being a pedestrian boulevard.
In 1871, the Liepaja-Romny railway was built. The Tilà ¾ÃÂâÂÂRiga and à  iauliaiâÂÂKlaipeda railways were built in 1916 and 1931, respectively. The city has a railway station.
In 1930, an air strip was developed. It was expanded in 1961 during the Soviet period and developed into a large VVS base. It is now a military base for NATO, and home to the à  iauliai International Airport.
The first passenger transport company in à  iauliai was founded in 1940. It was Autotrestas, which had 29 buses. In 1944, a motor firm replaced Autotrestas. In 1947, the first taxi company, à  iauliai cars, appeared. Subsequently, to meet the needs of an increasing population, more buses and Taksomotorà ³ Autoà «kis were added in 1955. In 2006, a modern bus station with a trade centre was constructed. The city has 27 city routes, the maximum number is 29.
à  iauliai of communication in 1897 could be used not only for mail or telegraph, and telephone. Telephone subscribers in 1923 was 170, while in 1937 â 700 rooms. 1936; the city to install a phone machine.
1957, a television tower, which are equipped with radio and antenna lines. In 1995 launched the construction of cable television lines, 1998 started to install the cable internet, since 2003 â Optical Internet line. In 2008, the city has 14 post offices (central LT-76001).
The most popular sports in the city are rugby, basketball, football, athletics, and cycling. The local rugby clubs Vairas and Baltrex are multi-time Lithuanian champions and are the main academies of Lithuanian rugby players.
BC à  iauliai, a basketball club established in 1984, has won seven consecutive Lithuanian Basketball League bronze medals sets between 2004âÂÂ2010 and three consecutive Baltic Basketball League Elite Division titles between 2014âÂÂ2016.
On July 25, 2007, in preparation for the 37th European men basketball championship, a modern à  iauliai Arena was opened to the public.
à  iauliai is twinned with:
The city was previously twinned with:
According to the population census of 2001, ethnic Lithuanians comprise 93%, Russians â 5%, and the remaining 2% consist of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, Roma, Latvians, Armenians, and other ethnic groups. About 94% of the city's population consider Lithuanian their native language, 5% are Russian speakers and the remainder speak Ukrainian, Belarusian, Latvian, Roma, Armenian etc. About 80% of those older than 20 have a command of the Russian language, while only 17% can speak English and 7% â German.
People who were born in or near à  iauliai include: