page_title: Rokiškis
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Rokiškis / History
caption_attribution_description: Frontal view of the Church of St Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, Rokiškis, Lithuania
context_page_description: Rokiškis is a city in northeastern Lithuania with a population of about 14,400.
context_section_description: The legend of the founding of Rokiškis tells about a hunter called Rokas who had been hunting for hares (Lit. "kiškis"). However, cities ending in "-kiškis" are quite popular in the region. The city was first mentioned in 1499. At first it was Prince Kroszinski's residence, later count Tyzenhaus build a beautiful neogothic church of St. Matthias and Rokiškis Manor, which is well preserved today and houses the Rokiškis Regional Museum. The town was planned in a classicist manner.
  Rokiškis was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania (Rzeczpospolita) until 1795, when Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. Rokiškis was included in the Vilna Governorate until 1843, when the Novo-Alexandrovsk district (uyezd) was transferred to the newly established Kovno Governorate.
  The city started to grow in 1873 when a branch of the Libau–Romny Railway was built which connected Dünaburg/Daugavpils to the east with the ice-free Baltic port of Libau/Liepāja.
  In the summer of 1915, the German army occupied the city.  When the war ended, the area became part of the new Republic of Lithuania. Rokiškis was granted city rights in 1920.  Because of strained relationships between Lithuania and the nearby newly created Republics of Poland and Latvia, Rokiškis was economically isolated during the inter-war period.
caption: Rokiškis Church of St. Matthias
exif: {}