Merkinė District
The Merkinė District (lit. Merkinės seniūnija ) is an administrative district and a branch of the administration of the Varėna Rajongemeinde , Alytus District , Lithuania . The center is Merkinė . The administrative district is located in the Dzūkija region , in the west of the Rajongemeinde, west of the city of Varėna . It covers 55,000 hectares of which 62% are forests. 3.222 inhabitants live here (as of 2011, 4500 in 2009). Nine civil servants work in the administration of the district (2017). The Merkinė district was mentioned in a document in the 16th century.