Vilkyškiai () is a small town in
Tauragė County, in western
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 ...
. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 666 people.
Etymology
It is believed that the name of the town was previously longer – Vilkijiškiai. This is a place name, which probably originated from the neuter gender ''Vilkija'' of the name of the river ''Vilka'' (or ''Vilkė''). Theoretically, it is also possible that the first inhabitants of Vilkyškiai originated from the settlement of
Vilkija. The normative gender with the suffix ''-yšk'' was approved in 1997.
Geography
The town is part of the
Rambynas Regional Park
Rambynas Regional Park is one of the List of regional parks of Lithuania, Regional Parks in Lithuania, situated at Pagėgiai municipality (Tauragė County) on the right Neman River, Nemunas river bend in Lithuania, near the border of Kal ...
territory, located in the Vilkyškių Ridge (60–80 m above sea level in the middle). The
Jūra River flows in the east, and a small forest stretches in the southeast.
Notable People
*
Albrecht Gustav von Manstein
Albert Ehrenreich Gustav von Manstein (24 August 1805 in Willkischken – 11 May 1877 in Flensburg) was a Prussian general who served during the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. He was the adoptive grandfather of Erich von Mans ...
(1805–1877), German general
*
Jonas Urbonas (1807–1886), participant in the Lithuanian literary movement, translator, publicist, taught at the Vilkyškės school
*
Jurgis Gerulis (1888–1945), linguist, and
Balticist.
*
Oskar Brüsewitz (1929–1976),
East German Lutheran pastor
References
Towns in Lithuania
Towns in Tauragė County
{{TauragėCounty-geo-stub