Joniškis

Listen Joniškis? / I (Polish Janiszki, German Jonischken ) is a city and seat of the Rajongemeinde in northern Lithuania. The municipality Joniškis within the community includes not only the city with 10,823 inhabitants, other places with a total of over 1000 inhabitants. A total of 30,418 people live in the community.

City

The city lies a few kilometers from the Latvian border on the railway line and highway Šiauliai Riga. Since 2005, the bypass is completed, so that the (low ) transit to Latvia no longer crosses the city.

The place was first mentioned in 1523 and received city rights in 1616.

The film and stage actor Laurence Harvey (1928-1973) was born here.

Since November 10, 2000 there has been twinned with the town Sulingen in Germany.

2015 Joniškis will be the cultural capital of Lithuania.

Rajongemeinde

The Rajongemeinde Joniškis includes the two cities Joniškis and Žagarė ( 2312 inhabitants), the two towns ( miesteliai ) Kriukai (602 inhabitants) and Skaistgirys ( 964 inhabitants), and 290 villages between under 10 and over 500 residents.