Plungė
—  City  —
Coat of arms
Plungė Location of Plungė
Coordinates: 55°55′N 21°51′E / 55.917°N 21.85°E / 55.917; 21.85Coordinates: 55°55′N 21°51′E / 55.917°N 21.85°E / 55.917; 21.85
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Samogitia
County	Telšiai County
Municipality	Plungė district municipality
Eldership	Plungė town eldership
Capital of	Plungė district municipality Plungė town eldership Plungė rural eldership
First mentioned	1567
Granted city rights	1792
Population (2007)
- Total	23,138
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.plunge.lt

Plungė ( pronunciation (help·info), Samogitian: Plongė) is a city in Lithuania with 23,246 inhabitants. It has a crab stick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.

Before World War II, Plunge had a large Jewish population.

History

Plungė belfry

Plungė Mansion

It is thought that the territory in which Plungė is situated was inhabited in 5th–1st centuries BC. After the Treaty of Melno country seats were started establishing in the forests of Samogitia. From the 14th century to the middle of the 16th century, Plungė was a part of Gandinga volost as an ordinary settlement. Later, the population of Plungė started to grow faster and surpassed the population of Gandinga. In 1567 Plungė was mentioned as a town.

On January 13, 1792, Plungė granted Magdeburg rights. From 1806 to 1873 Plungė belonged to Platon Zubov, and later – to Oginskiai, who built a palace here in 1879.

The coat of arms of Plungė was affirmed by the decree of the President on June 6, 1997.

Twin cities

Famous people

• Lazarus Goldschmidt (Plungė, 1871-1950), translator of the Talmud.
• Historian Zenonas Ivinskis (Plungė, 1908–1971) was born here
• Actor Karolis Dapkus was born here
• Musician Petras Vyšniauskas was born here
• Famous Lithuanian composer and artist M. K. Čiurlionis (1875–1911) had lived here at the end of the 19th century
• Gediminas Jaunius (Plungė, 1978), TV shows announcer and politician, was born here
• Miss Lithuania 2007 Jurgita Jurkutė (Plungė, 1985) was born here
• Česlovas Gabalis
• Wanda Rutkiewicz (1943–1992), one of the most famous world alpinists, the first female alpinist who had climbed to K2.
• Pranciškus Erelis (1919–2008), physician rheumatologist, habilitated doctor of biomedicine, professor of Vilnius university, writer. 1945 finished gymnasium here.

Telšiai County Municipalities Mažeikiai • Plungė • Rietavas • Telšiai Cities Mažeikiai • Plungė • Rietavas • Seda • Telšiai • Varniai • Viekšniai Towns Alsėdžiai • Eigirdžiai • Gadūnavas • Janapolė • Kuliai • Laižuva • Lauko Soda • Leckava • Luokė • Nerimdaičiai • Nevarėnai • Pavandenė • Pikeliai • Plateliai • Tirkšliai • Tryškiai • Tverai • Ubiškė • Žarėnai • Žemaičių Kalvarija • Židikai Villages Babrungas • Krakiai • Pakerai • Ukrinai