Prienai

Sister cities

• Holstebro
• Škofja Loka
• Zvolen
• Parczew
• Bundoran
• Sesimbra
• Sušice
• Niederanven
• Chojna
• Houffalize
• Bad Kötzting
• Kőszeg

History

The history of Prienai and its surroundings is closely linked to that of the Baltic region. Traces of sporadic human settlement go back to the Neolithic period. However, the vast majority of archeological findings such as tools and antiquity coins date back to the Iron Age, when the region of Prienai was inhabited by early Baltic tribes. Lush forests, strategically useful valleys, and stunningly beautiful banks of the Nemunas River were among the main reasons why the area became dotted with 28 hillforts, many of which were relatively densely populated thousands of years ago. when the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander gave the land of Prienai to the noble Mykolas Glinskis, who, following his exile from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, became the tutor of his nephew Ivan the Terrible. In 1609, the city was granted the Magdeburg rights, though they were greatly expanded in 1791 by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanislaw II Augustus. The city's arms showing St. George killing the dragon was granted in the same year. St. George was one of the patron saints of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1579, Prienai was given by Grand Duke of Lithuania Stephen Báthory to the Hungarian nobleman Gabriel Bekes, brother of the more famed Gáspár Bekes, for his loyal participation in the Livonian War. The Bekes family ruled Prienai for the next two decades. Afterwards, it became the property of another Hungarian nobleman named Kaspar Horvat. In 1616, the Lithuanian nobleman and politician Stefan Pac, who would later become the Deputy Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, acquired Prienai. He and his sons Stanislovas and Mikołaj Stefan Pac owned it up until 1643. For almost one and a half centuries, Prienai was ruled by the Butler family. In 1661, Count Gothard Wilhelm Butler, a…