Ukmergė

The city took its original name Vilkmergė from the {{ill|Vilkmergėlė|lt}} River, which was initially called Vilkmergė and assumed a diminutive form after the growth of the settlement.{{cite book|author=Aleksandras Vanagas|year=2004|title=Lietuvos miestų vardai ('Lithuanian City Names')|publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas ('Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute')|isbn=5-420-01531-5}} It is commonly thought that the name may be translated as "she-wolf", from the combination of Vilkas (wolf) and Merga (maiden). More likely the second root of the dual-stemmed name is the verb merg-/merk- meaning "to submerge" or "to dip". According to local legend, Vilkmergė was a girl raised by wolves, who bridged the divide between animals and humans, in the same way as Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli. The folk etymology of "Ukmergė", by contrast, is "farm girl" (Lith. ūkis = farm). The original name has been adopted by the local soccer team, "Vilkmergė Ukmergė" as well as popular HBH Vilkmergė beer.

Other historic names for the city include Wilkemerge or Wilkamergen in 1225, Vilkenberge (1333), Wilkinberg (1384, 1455), Vilkomir (1455), Wilkomir (1611), Wilkomirz (1613), Wilkomiria (1766), Ukmerge (1900), Aukmergė (1908); Ūkmergė (1911), Wilkomierz (1918), and Vilkmergė (1919).[http://www.mockus.us/optimum/deksnys/ukmerge.html Jono Deksnio rankraščio "Apgyventų vietų pavadinimų kitimas 13-20 amžiuje" ('Populated places name changes in 13th-20th centuries') 1985 m. (provided by Audris Mockus)]

File:M.K.Radvila 1613 LDK žemėlapis Vilkmergės pavietas.png in Radziwiłł map (1613)]]

File:Aerial view of the city of Ukmergė and its hillfort in 1901.jpg in 1901]]

Ukmergė was first mentioned in 1225, and named as a settlement in Hermann von Wartberge's chronicle in 1333.[http://www.voruta.lt/archyvas/63/895 Voruta : Lietuvos miestų ir miestelių pirmųjų paminėjimų datos ('Voruta: First mentions and dates of Lithuanian cities and towns') at voruta.lt/archyvas]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |last1=Miškinis |first1=Algimantas |title=Ukmergės istorija |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/ukmerges-istorija/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=lt}} It was essentially a wooden fortress that stood on a hill, near the confluence of the Vilkmergė River and the Šventoji River. Ukmergė was attacked by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order in 1333, 1365, 1378, 1386, and even in 1391, already after the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387. During the last attack, Ukmergė was burned to the ground and had to be completely rebuilt.

The region began to adopt Christianity, along with the rest of Lithuania, in 1386. In the following year, 1387, its first Catholic church, St. Peter and St. Paul, was built. It was one of the first Roman Catholic churches established in Lithuania. The town was granted municipal rights at some time after the Battle of Wiłkomierz in 1435,Ukmergės miesto ir Ukmergės apskrities istorijos apybraiža, 2004 ('Ukmergė: Ukmergė district and historical outline 2004') and written sources dating from 1486 referred to it as a city. King Sigismund the Old confirmed these rights. During the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city had been the center of powiat in the Vilnius Voivodeship.

In 1655, the Swedish and Russian armies plundered the city. Because of these incessant wars, the growth of Ukmergė suffered many setbacks. Jews began to settle in the city in the late 17th century, and built a synagogue and a cemetery.{{cite web |title=The Jewish Community of Vilkomir/Ukmerge |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/vilkomir |publisher=The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot}} In the years 1711–1712, the bubonic plague swept through the town and wreaked havoc upon its population. At various times, the 1st Lithuanian National Cavalry Brigade, the 2nd and 3rd Lithuanian Vanguard Regiments and the 1st Lithuanian Infantry Regiment were stationed in the town.{{cite book|last=Gembarzewski|first=Bronisław|title=Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831|year=1925|language=pl|publisher=Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej|location=Warszawa|pages=10, 14, 33}} In 1792, by the initiative of the city's representative in the Great Sejm, Józef Dominik Kossakowski, King Stanisław August Poniatowski renewed the town's municipal rights and gave it its current coat of arms.

File:Daugavpils St. (now Vytauto St.) in Ukmergė, depicted in a postcard of the late 19th century.jpg

During the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in 1795, the town was annexed by Russia, becoming a part of the Vilna Governorate. In 1812 the Battle of Deltuva, between the Russian and French armies, occurred not far from Ukmergė; Napoleon's army raided the town during the French invasion of Russia. During the November Uprising in 1831, the city remained in the hands of rebel elements for several months. In 1843, the town became a part of the newly established Kovno Governorate. In 1863, the city participated in the January Uprising against Russia. In 1876 a match factory was established in Ukmergė. In 1877 a fire again ravaged the town. The future president of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, was born in Užulėnis near Ukmergė, and was educated in the local school. In 1882 a printing-house was opened.

In 1899–1902, thirteen people (including two Lithuanian vicars: Kazimieras Šleivys and Vladislovas Opulskis) were punished for distributing books written in the Lithuanian language in Ukmergė and surroundings villages, which at the time were prohibited by the Russian tsarist authority's imposed Lithuanian press ban.{{cite web |last1=Ramanauskas |first1=Raimundas |title=Atmintinos Ukmergės miesto istorijos datos |url=https://ukmergesmuziejus.lt/atmintinos-ukmerges-miesto-istorijos-datos-raimondo-ramanausko-straipsnis/ |website=Ukmergės muziejus |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=lt}} The so-called 'Ukmergė case' has contributed quite a bit to the lifting of the Lithuanian press ban in 1904 and was one of the last cases of its kind.

File:Ukmergė Old Town, depicted in a postcard from 1921.jpg

File:1929.V.24. Lietuvos kariuomenės 1 p. DLK Gedimino pulko rikiuotė kareivinių kieme Ukmergėje.jpg in Ukmergė, 1929]]

In 1918, after Lithuania declared its independence, the city's name was changed from Vilkmergė to Ukmergė. In 1919 Bolshevik forces occupied the city during the Lithuanian–Soviet War, but it was soon liberated by the Lithuanian army led by Jonas Variakojis. Over five hundred Bolshevik prisoners were taken during the Battle of Ukmergė. An iron foundry was established in the same year. In 1920, the Lithuanian army stopped Polish incursions into the rest of the country, after a series of battles that were waged to establish borders between the two newly re-established countries. An electric plant, a printing house and 120 other small businesses were opened. The city had five newspapers until 1939. In 1930, a monument named Lituania Restituta was erected to commemorate the first decade of restored Lithuanian independence. A Polish high school also operated in Ukmergė during the interbellum.

In 1940, after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, deportations of people from the town began. When the Germans attacked the Soviet Union and its occupied territories, on June 22, 1941, the retreating Soviets gave instructions to their operatives to kill some 120 prisoners; however, most of them escaped; only eight of them were tortured to death. After the German invasion, the Nazis rounded up and killed about 10,000 members of the town's Jewish population with the help of Lithuanian collaborators.[http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search/vcntfr=5000/page/1/item/69/ Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania: Mass murder of the Jews from Ukmergė and surrounding areas] Accessed 26 April 2017 During World War II, the city center suffered from extensive bomb damage.

For years after the return of the Soviets, the city's people organized and participated in resistance movements. The deportation of the city's population to Siberia continued. In 1950 the monument to Lithuania's Independence was destroyed. The city reconstructed it in 1990, even before the restoration of Lithuania's independence was declared. Around 1964, two coupled Soviet R-12 Dvina (SS-4) nuclear missile bases were built in the woods near Ukmergė under Nikita Khrushchev. Each had four surface launch pads, semi-underground hangars to store the missiles and several accessory buildings. The bases were mentioned in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. They both are in a ruined state at present, and freely accessible to the public.

{{Weather box

|location = Ukmergė (1991–2020 normals)

|single line = Yes

|metric first = Yes

|Jan high C = −0.9

|Feb high C = 0.0

|Mar high C = 4.9

|Apr high C = 12.9

|May high C = 18.8

|Jun high C = 21.9

|Jul high C = 24.2

|Aug high C = 23.4

|Sep high C = 17.9

|Oct high C = 10.8

|Nov high C = 4.7

|Dec high C = 0.6

|year high C = 11.6

|Jan mean C = -3.2

|Feb mean C = -2.9

|Mar mean C = 0.9

|Apr mean C = 7.5

|May mean C = 12.9

|Jun mean C = 16.3

|Jul mean C = 18.6

|Aug mean C = 17.7

|Sep mean C = 12.8

|Oct mean C = 7.2

|Nov mean C = 2.5

|Dec mean C = -1.4

|year mean C = 7.4

|Jan low C = −5.8

|Feb low C = −5.7

|Mar low C = −2.6

|Apr low C = 2.3

|May low C = 6.9

|Jun low C = 11.0

|Jul low C = 13.0

|Aug low C = 12.2

|Sep low C = 8.3

|Oct low C = 4.1

|Nov low C = 0.5

|Dec low C = -3.6

|year low C = 3.4

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 46

|Feb precipitation mm = 38

|Mar precipitation mm = 37

|Apr precipitation mm = 40

|May precipitation mm = 60

|Jun precipitation mm = 63

|Jul precipitation mm = 80

|Aug precipitation mm = 80

|Sep precipitation mm = 53

|Oct precipitation mm = 60

|Nov precipitation mm = 50

|Dec precipitation mm = 49

|year precipitation mm = 656

| Jan humidity = 85

| Feb humidity = 83

| Mar humidity = 76

| Apr humidity = 68

| May humidity = 67

| Jun humidity = 71

| Jul humidity = 73

| Aug humidity = 74

| Sep humidity = 78

| Oct humidity = 83

| Nov humidity = 87

| Dec humidity = 87

| year humidity = 78

|source 1 = Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service{{cite web |title=Klimato duomenys 1991-2020|url=https://www.meteo.lt/klimatas/lietuvos-klimatas/klimato-duomenys/ |website=Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnyba |language=lt}}}}

File:Ukmergė Bus Station in 2020.jpg

According to the 2021 census, the city population was 21,258 people, of which:{{cite web|title=Gyventojų skaičius|trans-title=Population|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=eaab70eb-f564-48f7-b34b-ef4be0c62eec#/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703154037/https://osp.stat.gov.lt/lt/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=eaab70eb-f564-48f7-b34b-ef4be0c62eec#/|archive-date=3 July 2023|url-status=live|access-date=3 July 2023|website=State Data Agency of Lithuania}}

• Lithuanians – 93.45% (19,865)
• Russians – 3.72% (791)
• Poles – 0.63% (134)
• Ukrainians – 0.35% (76)
• Belarusians – 0.30% (63)
• Others / did not specify – 1.56% (332)

File:Lithuanian President Antanas Smetona during his visit to Ukmergė in 1933.jpg during his visit to Ukmergė in 1933]]

File:Ukmergė, senamiestis.JPG

• Bruno Abakanowicz, Polish mathematician, born in 1852, Vilkomir (Ukmergė)
• Alexander Braudo, author and publisher, born in 1864, Vilkomir (Ukmergė)
• Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim, Yiddish poet and educator in Israel
• Chaim Freinkel, philanthropist, lived, worked, and established schools in Ukmergė
• Antanas Smetona, president of Lithuania from 1919–1920 and from 1926–1940, was born nearby and educated in the local school system
• Leib Gurwicz, Rabbi and Talmudic scholar, studied at the yeshivah school here
• Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, Rabbi and Lithuanian parliamentarian, built yeshivas, a school and an orphanage in Ukmergė
• Moshe Leib Lilienblum, scholar and author
• Ben Shahn, American artist, muralist, social activist, photographer and teacher, lived in Ukmerge in the early 1900s
• Bob Sredersas, Lithuanian-Australian art collector went to school here
• Zigmas Zinkevičius, Lithuanian linguist, acquired his early schooling in Ukmergė.
• Vida Vencienė, Olympic cross country skiing gold medalist.
• Woolf Wess, also known as William Wess or William West, a Jewish anarchist, trade union organizer, and editor of the London-based Yiddish-language anarchist newspaper, Arbeyter Fraynd (Worker's Friend), born in Ukmergė in 1861 and emigrated to London, England, dying there in 1946
• Stanisław Lech Woronowicz, Polish mathematician, born in 1941, Ukmergė

There are many sightings in Ukmergė. One of them is a small stone puppy statue named Dog Keksas, to be found in Vienuolyno g. 17 (Ukmerge 20114).{{cite web |title=Dog Keksas |url=https://www.trip.com/travel-guide/attraction/ukmerge/dog-keksas-61900934/ |publisher=Trip.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119225943/https://www.trip.com/travel-guide/attraction/ukmerge/dog-keksas-61900934/ |archive-date=2024-01-19}}{{cite web |title=Dog Keksas |url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g887218-d17334091-Reviews-Dog_Keksas-Ukmerge_Vilnius_County.html |publisher=TripAdvisor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117214855/https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g887218-d17334091-Reviews-Dog_Keksas-Ukmerge_Vilnius_County.html |archive-date=2024-01-17}}{{cite web |title=Top 10 Things to do in Ukmerge, Vilnius County|date= May 14, 2022 |url=https://www.thingstodopost.org/top-10-things-to-do-in-ukmerge-vilnius-county-651103|publisher=ThingsToDo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117214855/https://www.thingstodopost.org/top-10-things-to-do-in-ukmerge-vilnius-county-651103 |archive-date=2024-01-17}}{{cite web |title=Sculpture Dog Muffin |url=https://www.dreamstime.com/sculpture-dog-muffin-amazing-playful-stone-ukmerge-object-small-architecture-ric-richard-%C5%A1irvelis-granite-image240705263 |publisher=DreamsTime}}{{cite web |title= Naujasis Ukmergės simbolis – šuo Keksas |date= 2013-12-28 |url=https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/aktualijos/2013/12/28/news/naujasis-ukmerges-simbolis-suo-keksas-4772774 |publisher=Lrytas.lt |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240825032113/https://www.lrytas.lt/lietuvosdiena/aktualijos/2013/12/28/news/naujasis-ukmerges-simbolis-suo-keksas-4772774 |archive-date= 2024-08-25 |language=lt}}

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Lithuania}}

Ukmergė is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Tarptautinis bendradarbiavimas|url=http://www.ukmerge.lt/go.php/lit/Tarptautinis-bendradarbiavimas|website=ukmerge.lt|publisher=Ukmergė|language=lt|access-date=2019-08-29}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• {{flagicon|GER}} Bad Langensalza, Germany
• {{flagicon|ITA}} Cologno al Serio, Italy
• {{flagicon|UKR}} Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine
• {{flagicon|HUN}} Kiskunmajsa, Hungary
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Herrljunga, Sweden
• {{flagicon|LAT}} Līvāni, Latvia
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Mariestad, Sweden
• {{flagicon|EST}} Põlva, Estonia
• {{flagicon|POL}} Tarnowo Podgórne, Poland
• {{flagicon|GEO}} Tsalenjikha, Georgia
• {{flagicon|GER}} Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Germany
• {{flagicon|SWE}} Västra Götaland County, Sweden
• {{flagicon|GER}} Wetteraukreis, Germany
• {{flagicon|ENG}} Worcester, England, United Kingdom
• {{flagicon|HUN}} Esztergom, Hungary
• {{flagicon|HUN}} Kiskunlacháza, Hungary

{{div col end}}

Ukmergės teismas.jpg|Old Court

Biblioteka. Ukmergė.JPG|Library

Ukmergės Šv. Petro ir Povilo bažnyčia.JPG|Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Cemetery of Pasile - panoramio.jpg|Entrance to the cemetery of Pašilė

Kryžius žuvusių partizanų bunkerio vietoje (1948) - panoramio.jpg|Monument for the Lithuanian partisans who perished in 1948

2. Ukmergė, sentikių cerkvė.JPG|Church of the Old Believers

Ukmergė, kraštotyros muziejus.JPG|Museum of Local History

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Ukmergė}}

• [http://www.ukmerge.lt/ The official page of the Municipality of the Ukmerge Region] in Lithuanian language
• [http://www.archyvai.lt/exhibitions/herbai/herbas253.htm The original coat of arms from 1792] in Lithuanian language
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061009194232/http://www.litnet.lt/lithuania/cities/ukm.html History of Ukmergė]
• [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/ukmerge.htm Nuclear missile sites near Ukmergė]
• [https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/vilkomir The Jewish Community of Vilkomir/Ukmerge], The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot

{{Vilnius County}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukmerge}}

Category:Cities in Vilnius County

Category:Cities in Lithuania

Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania

Category:Hill forts in Lithuania

Category:Historic Jewish communities in Lithuania

Category:Holocaust locations in Lithuania

Category:Ukmergė District Municipality