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some history of Šiauliai city

Our city Siauliai, probably like every single city in the world, has its history. Its story starts at the line of the trade routes. After that the church was built, the formation of the bazaar started and that's how everything began. Small houses were built, and it became a city step after step. First time in the written sources the name Soule (Siauliai) was mentioned on 1236 September 22. The document depicted the Sun’s battle during which the joint Lithuanian troop defeated the Order of the Sword. By this event, the Siauliai city was first mentioned by the name of Sun.

The first time when the actual name of Siauliai city is mentioned is 1524 June 14 in the letter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Almost at the same time in 1555 Siauliai city appears on the European map. During the time the city was in a very good economical place which allowed it to expand. There were a lot of markets, bazaars, trade relations kept expanding, and the church had an important role in all of that. Sadly, in 1589 the whole city burned down leaving nothing behind. Nobody knows how it looked like during those times, no paintings or plans of the streets or buildings were saved. But again, that didn’t end the history of Siauliai city. In the documents of 1649 and 1650, there are some streets mentioned which names are still relevant during these days. So those names of the streets are proof that the city was already rebuilt and growing during the time. In 1791 Siauliai become a real city with the Magdeburg Law. From that the economy and the growth of the city only increased. In the 19th century, the city was called the industrial one. The food industry, agriculture, and leather production increased sharply. Here we had the first candy and chocolate manufacture in Lithuania named “Birutė”. Also, one of the biggest factories became “Gubernija” which produced beer and kvass.

The First world war was ruthless to Siauliai city because it was a strategically important point in the country and had a railroad to many destinations. It was one of the most destroyed cities in the whole country. It was burned down again, leaving only around 5000 people living there, with no school, almost no economy and nothing to base life on. Furthermore, it was a very difficult period for the whole city. But, the people of Siauliai didn't give up. They recovered after the war and raised the city from the ashes. The priority was always economy, education and culture. There were a lot of Jewish people in Siauliai before WWI, but sadly, after WWII there were only a few hundred. They were a very important part of the society and the growth of the whole city. And of course, being again the strategically important place in the country, Siauliai were destroyed during WWII. This is the reason why the city doesn’t have an old town. But as we can see now, the city of Siauliai with the people living here didn’t give up after that. We have around 100 000 people living in the city today, a lot of various places to visit, a history that we want to share, and we are still expanding.