Elektrėnai () is a city of about 11,000 inhabitants in Lithuania; since 2000 it has been the capital of the Elektrėnai Municipality. It is situated between the two largest cities in Lithuania –

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

and Kaunas.

History

Elektrėnai is one of the newest towns of Lithuania, having been established during the

Soviet times The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

as the living space for workers of the nearby power plant. The name of the new town was derived from word "elektrinė" (English: ''electric plant''). Most of the buildings in Elektrėnai are large monolith housing projects built during the Soviet times and there are no historical buildings. The town, however, is close to Elektrėnai Reservoir, an artificial lake that was created in order to cool down the Elektrėnai Power Plant. The water is several degrees warmer than water at the other nearby lakes.

Retail

There are several supermarkets ( Norfa XXL, Maxima XX,

Iki IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japanese ...

, Lidl, as well as a discounter (IKI Cento) in Elektrėnai.Retai.net: Rimi Baltic opened its 100th discounter
/ref>

Ice hockey

Elektrėnai is well known for its

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

tradition. For a rather long period of time Elektrėnai was the only city in Lithuania with a well-equipped skating rink. Two

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

players:

Darius Kasparaitis Darius Kasparaitis (russian: Дарюс Владович Каспарайтис, ''Daryus Vladovich Kasparaitis''; born October 16, 1972) is a Lithuanian-American former professional ice hockey defenceman. He mainly played in the National Hockey ...

and

Dainius Zubrus Dainius Gintas Zubrus (born June 16, 1978) is a Lithuanian former professional ice hockey right winger and centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL), the first Lithuanian to have played 1,000 games in the NHL. Drafted 15th overall in ...

were born in Elektrėnai. Its local ice hockey team is Energija. Inhabitants of Elektrėnai make up a considerable part of the national ice hockey team.

Gallery

References

External links

City of Elektrėnai - History

Virtual Tour of Elektrėnai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elektrenai Cities in Lithuania Cities in Vilnius County Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Elektrėnai Municipality