Šalčininkai (; ; ''Solechnik''; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Vilnius County Vilnius County () is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius and is also known as Capital Region or Sostinės regionas by the State Data Agency, Lithuanian statistics department and ...

, in south-eastern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, situated south-east of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, near the border with

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Etymology

The name of the city derives from

Šalčia The Šalčia () is a river in Lithuania. It originates in a region located to the east of Šalčininkai and runs for 76 km before flowing into the Merkys The Merkys () is a river in southern Lithuania and northern Belarus. It flows for th ...

river, ''šalta'' meaning cold in Lithuanian.

History

In the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

the region around Šalčininkai was dominated by

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

and it was the birthplace of many authors of the earliest Lithuanian-language texts (including Stanislovas Rapalionis, Jurgis Zablockis and ). In 1420, Lithuanian-speaking Nicholas of Šalčininkai was born in Šalčininkai and in 1453–1467 he served as the

Bishop of Vilnius Bishops of Vilnius diocese from 1388 and archdiocese (archdiocese of Vilnius) from 1925:" ...

, the capital of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. In the late 19th century many of the local inhabitants mixed with the neighbouring

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

and called themselves ''

tutejszy ''Tutejszy'' was a self-identification of Eastern European rural populations, who did not have a clear national identity. The term means "from here", "local" or "natives". This was mostly in mixed-lingual Eastern European areas, including Belarus ...

'' ("the locals"), while staying

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, they didn't assign themselves to a single ethnic group. The region is known for its uncodified Belarusian vernacular (also known as ' po prostu', meaning 'simply' or 'plainly') and the city itself is considered the provincial centre of

Polish culture The culture of Poland () is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Poland has a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic ma ...

in Lithuania (the urban centre being

). Šalčininkai attained the town status in 1956 and is now a

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the

Šalčininkai district municipality Šalčininkai District Municipality () is one of 60 district municipalities in Lithuania. The municipality is part of the Vilnius County and is located in southeastern Lithuania, next to the Belarus–Lithuania border. The south-eastern border ...

Demographics

According to the latest census of 2021, Šalčininkai had 6857 inhabitants and features a multi-ethnic population of 4930

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

(71.9%), 920

(15.7%), 438

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

(6.4%), 286

(4.2%), 61

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

(0,9%) and 222 people of other background (3.2%). 12.2% of all inhabitants in

, according to the 2021 census were born abroad, while 87.8% were born in

. This was a decrease from 14.3%, recorded by the previous – 2011 census. Out of 34.5 thousand inhabitants in 2011, 3711 or 10.7% of all the inhabitants were born in

, 728 or 2.1% in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In 2000 coat of arms of Šalčininkai was adopted by a decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, designed by

Arvydas Každailis Arvydas Stanislavas Každailis (born 4 April 1939, in Baisogala) is a Lithuanian artist, best known as the creator of many coat of arms for cities and towns of Lithuania. For his achievements in Lithuanian art, he was awarded the Order of the Lith ...

, coat of arms consists of three

hazelnuts The hazelnut is the nut (fruit), fruit of the hazel, hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or fil ...

symbolizing solidarity.

Notable people

Władysław Kozakiewicz Władysław Kozakiewicz (; born 8 December 1953) is a Lithuanian-born retired Polish people, Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honn ...

(born 1950), Polish pole vaulter and Olympic champion *

Henoch Leibowitz Alter Chanoch Henoch Hakohen Leibowitz (June 2, 1918His date of birth is uncertain, but his passport read June 2, 1918. – April 15, 2008) was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi who was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaK ...

* Aaron Soltz

Twin towns – sister cities

Šalčininkai is twinned with: *

Bełchatów County __NOTOC__ Bełchatów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Łódź Voivodeship, central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

, Poland * Hude, Germany * Kadzidło, Poland * Kaźmierz, Poland *

Kętrzyn County __NOTOC__ Kętrzyn County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the border with Russia. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

, Poland *

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

, Poland *

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

, Poland *

Nowe Miasto Lubawskie Nowe Miasto Lubawskie (; ) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Drwęca, River Drwęca. The total population in June 2018 was 11,062. Nowe Miasto Lubawskie is the capital of Nowe Miasto County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Geogr ...

, Poland *

Płońsk Płońsk (; ) is a town in central Poland with 21,591 inhabitants (2022). Situated at the Płonka river in the historic region of Mazovia, it is the seat of Płońsk County in the Masovian Voivodeship. History According to archaeological researc ...

, Poland *

Radom County __NOTOC__ Radom County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

, Poland * Stare Miasto, Poland *

Świdnik Świdnik () is a town in southeastern Poland with 40,186 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, southeast of the city of Lublin. It is the capital of Świdnik County. Świdnik belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, ...

, Poland *

Szczytno Szczytno (;) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,013 inhabitants (2007). It is the seat of Szczytno County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, within the historic region of Masuria. Olsztyn-Mazury Regional Airport, located nearby, is the m ...

, Poland *

Tarnowo Podgórne Tarnowo Podgórne is an urbanized village in Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Tarnowo Podgórne. It lies approximately north-west of the regiona ...

, Poland *

Warsaw West County __NOTOC__ The Warsaw West County () is a county in Masovian Voivodeship, located in the east-central Poland, with its seat of government located in Ożarów Mazowiecki. Other towns located in the county are: Łomianki, and Błonie. It was esta ...

, Poland *

Wolsztyn County __NOTOC__ Wolsztyn County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed ...

, Poland *

Wschowa Wschowa (pronounced , ) is a town in the Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland with 13,875 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Wschowa County and a significant tourist site containing many important historical monuments. It is part of the his ...

, Poland *

Żnin Żnin (; , 1941–45: ) is a town in north-central Poland with a population of 14,181 (June 2014). It is in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (previously Bydgoszcz Voivodeship) and is the capital of Żnin County. The historical town, initially es ...

, Poland

References

Cities in Lithuania Cities in Vilnius County Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Šalčininkai District Municipality {{VilniusCounty-geo-stub