Ką mena Kretingos praeitis

ENThe development features of Kretinga’s past from 1253, when its castle was first mentioned in written sources, up to now have been discussed in this study. It has been noted that from the 15th century to 1534 the Kretinga valsčius (small rural district) belonged to the Kęsgailą noble family, later to Lithuanian grand dukes, from 1572 to 1621 to the Chodkevičius noble family and, finally, to other noble families until World War I. The town of Kretinga, at first called Karolstadt, was founded by Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius on January 23, 1609. In 1795, when Lithuania was annexed to the Russian empire, it lost the city rights and regained them only in 1924 when it was already the centre of apskritis (district). This paper contains a more detailed analysis of Kretinga’s development in the 17th-19th centuries and in 1920-1940 that was partly passed over in silence during the period of the Soviet annexation.