Raseiniai

Raseiniai is an old centre of Samogitia, first mentioned in 1253. Its position in the western Lithuanian countryside gave it a lasting role in the administration of the region. From 1585 the local assembly of the Samogitian nobility met here regularly, making the town a place where the affairs of the duchy were debated and its representatives chosen. Raseiniai received municipal rights in 1792, during the final years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The town's history is thus closely bound to the institutions through which Samogitia retained its distinctive place within Lithuania.