Vilkavià ¡kis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkavià ¡kis District Municipality. It is located northwest from MarijampolÃÂ, at the confluence of and rivers.
The city got its name from the Vilkauja River. Initially named Vilkaujià ¡kis, the name was later changed to an easier-to-pronounce form, Vilkavià ¡kis.
Until 1941, the city had a large Jewish community, which was killed by the German military and their local collaborators.
This is the city from which the 2016 cost-of-living Cauliflower Revolution originated.
It is the capital of Vilkavià ¡kis District Municipality, Vilkavià ¡kis city eldership, and à  eimena eldership.
The names of the city as it is called or was formerly called in other languages spoken by non-Lithuanian ethnic groups which have lived or live in or around the town include: ; ; . Other spelling variants include Vilkavishkis and Wilkowyszki.
The city was granted city rights in 1660 by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, John II Casimir Vasa. The coat of arms was granted by King Augustus II the Strong in 1697. It was most likely borrowed from the Pac family, as the owner of the village at the time, Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac, was also the Chancellor of Lithuania.
During the Koà Âciuszko Uprising, in 1794, it was the site of a battle between Polish insurgents and Prussian troops. It remained in the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth until 1795 when, in the Third Partition of Poland, it was annexed by Prussia. In 1807, the city was incorporated into the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw. On 19âÂÂ23 June 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in the city. After the duchy's dissolution in 1815, the city became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland, as part of the Augustów Voivodeship, and later Suwaà Âki Governorate. In 1856, the vast majority of the city's population was Jewish, with 4,417 Jews and 834 Christians. During the January Uprising, on October 30, 1863, it was the site of a skirmish between Polish insurgents and Russian troops.
During World War I, the city was captured by German forces and held until 1918, when the place became part of independent Lithuania. An American-Lithuanian wrote of his observations when returning to the city in 1919:
During the interwar period, a rail line was constructed running through nearby MarijampolÃÂ, which caused that town to become the regional centre, replacing Vilkavià ¡kis in its traditional role. In 1926, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vilkavià ¡kis was established and its curia was located in the Vilkavià ¡kis Manor. Since 1926, the Vilkavià ¡kis Priest Seminary was operating in the city.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the control of the area fell to the Soviets, between 1940 and 1941, on the basis of the MolotovâÂÂRibbentrop pact. In 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, invaded Lithuania, and occupied the city. Between June and September 1941, the Germans, along with Lithuanian collaborators, destroyed almost all the houses in the city and murdered more than 3,000 people, most of them Jews. Many of the males were shot on 28 July, and the women and children following on the Fast of Gedalia on 24 September. In March 1942, several Polish priests were imprisoned in the local seminary by the Germans, and then eventually deported to other camps in December 1942 (see Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland).
The city was the scene of a successful counter-attack by the German Panzer-Grenadier-Division GroÃÂdeutschland in the autumn of 1944, and the aftermath of the fighting was the scene of several propaganda photographs in which the name of the city was prominently featured. The city was captured by the Red Army in August 1944. After the war, it was part of the Lithuanian SSR within the Soviet Union.
When Lithuania regained its independence in 1991, the city became the capital of the newly established Vilkavià ¡kis district municipality. The Vilkavià ¡kis Priest Seminary was restored by the Bishop Juozas à ½emaitis in 1999 and operated until 2005, when its clerics were transferred to the Kaunas Priest Seminary. In the late 20th century, the Curia of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vilkavià ¡kis was moved to MarijampolÃÂ.
In 2020, Vilkavià ¡kis won the Lithuania Village Flower Show, as voted by the board of Pakruojis Manor.
The town and the surrounding district.