Šilutė

City

Lutheran church in Šilutė

Flag

Coat of arms

Šilutė

Location of Šilutė

Coordinates: 55°21′N 21°29′E / 55.350°N 21.483°ECoordinates: 55°21′N 21°29′E / 55.350°N 21.483°E

Lithuania

Šilutė district municipality

Eldership

Šilutė eldership

Capital of

Šilutė district municipality
Šilutė eldership

First mentioned

13th century

Granted city rights

1941

Population (2015)

• Total

16,812 (17th)

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Šilutė ( pronunciation , previously Šilokarčiama, German: Heydekrug) is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County, Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of Šilutė County and is currently the capital of Šilutė district municipality.

Šilutė's origin dates to an inn (Krug) catering for travelers and their horses which was located halfway between Memel and Tilsit. The German name of Heydekrug referred to a Krug (an archaic word for inn) in the Heide (heathland). The inn was known in for the most inhabitants of the region speaking the Memelland-Samogitian dialect Šilokarčema.

A famous fish market was opened in Šilutė almost 500 years ago, when Georg Tallat purchased the inn together with the land and fishing rights in 1511. The town was a gathering place for peasants from nearby Samogitia and Curonian and Prussian fishermen from Rusnė, Karklė (), Nida, and Lesnoye (). Next to the inn a church of Werden (Verdainė) was built in 1550. Heydekrug often sought city rights, but was opposed by Memel and Tilsit in 1721 and 1725. In 1722 Heydekrug became a district center and in 1818 the capital of Landkreis Heydekrug. The settlement was amalgamated with the villages of Werden (Verdainė), Szibben (Žibai), and Cynthionischken (Cintjoniškiai) in 1910, although it still did not receive city rights. Following World War I, the town became part of Lithuania when it acquired the Klaipėda region in 1923.

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Wikipedia