Rietavas
| Rietavas | |||
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| State : |
 Lithuania
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| District : | Telšiai | ||
| Municipality : | Rietavas | ||
| Coordinates : | 55 ° 43 ′ N , 21 ° 55 ′ E | ||
| Inhabitants (place) : | 3,824 (2010) | ||
| Time zone : | EET (UTC + 2) | ||
| Telephone code : | (+370) 445 | ||
| Postal code : | 90018 | ||
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Rietavas (German (outdated): Redau , Polish Retów , Russian or Ретово / Retowo ) is a town and center of the self-governing municipality of the same name in the Telšiai district in the Žemaitija region of Lithuania .
history
Rietavas was first mentioned in 1253 as a place in the southern Curonian landscape of Cecli . In the following 150 years, however, the area was largely depopulated in the Lithuanian Wars of the Brothers of the Sword . Only after it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania again in 1411 was it able to develop. In 1527 Rietavas is mentioned as a lordship and a town-like settlement. The first church in the village was built in 1529. After the union of Poland and Lithuania to Real Union with the Lublin Union retained Žemaitien the name Principality as opposed to the eastern parts of Lithuania. From 1589 Rietavas was under the rule of the Sapieha . Cities in stately ownership were not uncommon under the aristocratic republic. In 1667 the powiat (district) Rietavas was established. In 1792 Rietavas was granted city rights (after it had been mentioned as a city in 1533).
Belonging to the Russian Empire since the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 , it was subordinate to the noble Oginski family from 1812–1909 . In support of the Polish November Uprising, the Oginskis had weapons and ammunition manufactured here. After the uprising was suppressed in 1835, they carried out modernizations in their own property, gave the farmers more rights, and founded an agricultural school, an iron foundry, a sawmill and an agricultural machinery factory in 1859. At the same time, a monumental basilica was built from 1853 to 1874. Secular cultural institutions followed: in 1875 a music school and in 1883 even a symphony orchestra. In 1892 the first telephone line in what is now Lithuania was laid in Rietavas.
city
The city has 3824 inhabitants, in 1970 there were 3371, in 1989 even 4490. It houses a grammar school, a Catholic high school and a college. It lies at the intersection of national roads 164 and 297. It never had a rail connection.
