Kaltinėnai
| Kaltinėnai | ||
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 Kaltinėnai
Location of Šilalė district in Lithuania
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| Coordinates: 55°34′00″N 22°27′00″E / 55.56667°N 22.45000°ECoordinates: 55°34′00″N 22°27′00″E / 55.56667°N 22.45000°E | ||
| Country |
 Lithuania
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| Ethnographic region | Samogitia | |
| County | Tauragė | |
| Municipality | Šilalė | |
| Eldership | Kaltinėnų | |
| Capital of | Kaltinėnų eldership | |
| First mentioned | 1370 | |
| Population (2001) | ||
| • Total | 834 | |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | |
Kaltinėnai is a small town in the west of Lithuania, located near Žemaičių highway in Šilalė district municipality, Tauragė County. Kaltinėnai has about 1000 inhabitants. The town is in a hollow, and it is rumoured that a large lake existed at the end of the Ice age where it now sits. Kaltinėnai is surrounded by famous mounds such as Skuburkalnis, Švedkalnis, Kepaluškalnis and Medvėgalis. There are also two rivers nearby, the Akmena and the Ižnė.
Notable buildings include the church, an old wooden synagogue, a home for the elderly and the Rehabilitation Centre.
A stone axe discovered in the town suggests that the area was already inhabited by the Neolithic period. Historians believe that the town was originally part of a larger settlement, but later it split and Kaltinėnai became a separate region.
Kaltinėnai was first mentioned in a German chronicle as terram Kalctene in 1371. Northern Crusaders tried to conquer Kaltinėnai castle many times (in 1375, 1377 and 1389, also planned from 1386–1394), but local inhabitants repelled the attacks.
At the end of the 14th century and beginning of the 15th Kaltinėnai was one of 6–7 of the most important centres in Žemaitija. Signatures of noblemen from Kaltinėnai can be found on important documents. The town was so important that Vytautas the Great ordered one of the first Catholic churches in Žemaitija built in Kaltinėnai (the local population didn't convert to Christianity until 1413) and it was complete by 1421. The See of Žemaitija was founded in 1417 and it ruled the town for more than 400 years.
Kaltinėnai the town was established in 1524. It first appeared on a Polish map two years later, earlier than most of the surrounding towns.
There were more than 70 farms in Kaltinėnai as of 1638, but by 1668 only 50 remained. After the Great Northern War the town continued to decline, for example in 1773 there were only 15 farms that could pay a tax, 19 in 1778.
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Wikipedia