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{{Infobox settlement <!--more fields are available for this Infobox--See Template:Infobox Settlement-->
| name                            = Ignalina
| settlement_type                 = City
| image_skyline                   = Ignalina, Lithuania - panoramio (15).jpg
| image_shield                    = Coat of arms of Ignalina (Lithuania).svg
| image_flag                      = Ignalinos vėliava.svg
| pushpin_map                     = Lithuania
| pushpin_label_position          = left<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_map_caption             = Location of Ignalina
| coordinates                     = {{coord|55|21|0|N|26|10|0|E|region:LT_type:city(6500)|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name                = {{LTU}}
| subdivision_type1               = [[Regions of Lithuania|Ethnographic&nbsp;region]]
| subdivision_name1               = [[Aukštaitija]]
| subdivision_type2               = [[Counties of Lithuania|County]]
| subdivision_name2               = [[File:Utena County COA.png|17px]] [[Utena County]]
| subdivision_type3               = [[List of municipalities of Lithuania|Municipality]]
| subdivision_name3               = [[Ignalina district municipality]]
| subdivision_type4               = [[Elderships of Lithuania|Eldership]]
| subdivision_name4               = Ignalina town eldership
| subdivision_type6               = [[Capital (political)|Capital of]]
| subdivision_name6               = [[Ignalina district municipality]] <br /> Ignalina town eldership <br /> Ignalina rural eldership
| established_title               = First mentioned
| established_date                = 1810
| established_title2              = Granted city rights
| established_date2               = 1950
| leader_title                    = Mayor
| leader_name                     = Justas Rasikas
| area_total_km2 = 7
| population_total                = 4998
| population_as_of                = 2023<ref>{{cite web|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/9601028/Gyventojai_gyvenamosiose_vietovese.xlsx|format=XLSX|title=GYVENTOJAI GYVENAMOSIOSE VIETOVĖSE|website=Osp.stat.gov.lt|access-date=23 July 2022|archive-date=7 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307204851/https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/9601028/Gyventojai_gyvenamosiose_vietovese.xlsx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| timezone                        = [[Eastern European Time|EET]]
| utc_offset                      = +2
| timezone_DST                    = [[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
| utc_offset_DST                  = +3
| website                         = {{URL|https://www.ignalina.lt/}}
| official_name                   =
| leader_party                    = [[Social Democratic Party of Lithuania|LSDP]]
}}
'''Ignalina''' ({{langx|pl|Ignalino}}; {{langx|de|Ingelin}}) is a city in eastern [[Lithuania]]. It is known as a tourist destination in the [[Aukštaitija National Park]]. Ignalina is also famous for the now decommissioned [[Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant]] in nearby [[Visaginas]].
== Legend ==
It is said that Ignalina got its name from two lovers Lina, daughter of duke Budrys, and Ignas, captive of the crusaders, whom people cursed and drowned in Ilgis Lake. Lina and Ignas are quite popular Lithuanian names.
==History==
Archeological findings and artefacts - mounds show that people lived in the territory of Ignalina already in 9th century. It is supposed that the territory of Ignalina earlier belonged to the ancient land of [[Nalšia]], which was mentioned in 1229–1298. The [[toponym]]s and [[hydronym|hidronyms]] demonstrate that it was inhabited by the [[Balts|Baltic]] tribe [[Selonians]].
Even though there is archeological evidence that people lived in Ignalina area in the [[Stone Age]], Ignalina was mentioned only in 1840. It started to grow only after the [[Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway]] was built in 1860. It is regarded as one of the new industrial cities.
After World War I, the area was disputed between Poland and Lithuania. It was [[Żeligowski's Mutiny|occupied by troops]] of Lucjan Żeligowski,<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Tessaris |first1=Chiara |title=Peace and Security beyond Military Power: The League of Nations and the Polish-Lithuanian Dispute (1920-1923) |year=2014 |publisher=Columbia University |doi=10.7916/D81G0JXW |url=https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D81G0JXW |access-date=6 January 2019|quote=Kaunas petitioned the League of Nations "to take necessary steps without delay to put an end to those persecutions and to extend its protection to the Lithuanian element in the Vilna region occupied by General Zeligowski."}}</ref> and internationally recognized as part of the [[Second Polish Republic]] in 1923. Nonetheless, Lithuania continued to claim this territory.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Reddaway |editor1-first=W. F. |title=The Cambridge History of Poland. From Augustus II to Pilsudski (1697-1935) |date=2016 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1316620038 |page=577 |quote=in March 1923, international recognition was accorded to the Eastern frontier of Poland as it then existed de facto (...) Polish sovereignty in Eastern Galicia and in the Wilno territory was recognized.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gross |first1=Jan Tomasz |title=Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia |date=2002 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0691096032 |page=3}}</ref> Before September 1939, Ignalina (Ignalino) was situated in the [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–39)|Wilno Voivodeship]].<ref name="Megargee">{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey P. |author-link = Geoffrey P. Megargee|title=[[Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos|The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945]]. Vol. 2, part A |date=2009 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=1058}}</ref>
Following the [[invasion of Poland]], Ignalina became the capital of Ignalina eldership. More than half of the population was Jewish, 1200 people before the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="yadvashem">{{cite web|url=http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/he/research/ghettos_encyclopedia/ghetto_details.asp?cid=67|website=Yadvashem.org|title=המכון הבין-לאומי לחקר השואה - יד ושם|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref>
During World War II, in 1941, Jews were imprisoned in a [[ghetto]] and exploited through forced labour. They are later murdered in mass executions.<ref name="holocaustatlas">{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search/bendri=Ignalina.vietove=.aukos=.from_year=0.from_month=0.from_day=.to_year=0.to_month=0.to_day=.killers=/page/1/item/84/|website=Holocaustatlas.lt|title=Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref><ref name="holocaustatlas2">{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search/bendri=Ignalina.vietove=.aukos=.from_year=0.from_month=0.from_day=.to_year=0.to_month=0.to_day=.killers=/page/1/item/112/|website=Holocaustatlas.lt|title=Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref><ref name="holocaustatlas3">{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search/bendri=Ignalina.vietove=.aukos=.from_year=0.from_month=0.from_day=.to_year=0.to_month=0.to_day=.killers=/page/1/item/110/|website=Holocaustatlas.lt|title=Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania|access-date=2017-07-15}}</ref>
In 1950 city become a capital of [[Ignalina District Municipality]] in Vilnius County. In 1995 Ignalina District Municipality become a part of [[Utena County]].
==Sports==
Lithuanian Winter Sports Center is located in Ignalina near Šiekštys or Žaliasis ''(Green)'' Lake. During the winter Sports Center offers [[Skiing|mountain skiing]], [[snowboarding]], ski equipment rental services, ski lifts, [[freeskiing]] instructors. In the summer there are boats or water bikes rental, tracks for roller skates, mountain bikes.
Also, there is the shooting range, Sports and Entertainment Center, “Žuvėdra” amusement park.
In Ignalina, there are organizing pedestrian, hiking, bicycle and car routes in the interesting places. In the summer there are popular [[kayak]], boat or water bikes trips.
Ignalina used to be the main [[ski jumping]] venue in Lithuania until the 1970s when this sport was discontinued in the country.<ref>{{cite web|title= Šuolininkų nuo tramplino bus daug!|url= http://www.sportas.info/naujienos/5320-suolininku_nuo_tramplino_bus_daug.html |website=Sportas.info |date= 2011-02-09 |access-date=2013-12-15 | language = lt }}</ref>
==Nature and geography==
Ignalina located in the [[Aukštaitija National Park]]. It is a town above 9 lakes.
Ignalina is surrounded by woods and waters. Town takes pride in nine lakes named Gavys, Gavaitis, Ilgys, Šiekštys, Mekšrinis, Paplovinis, Palaukinis, Agarinis and Gulbinis.
In the [[Ignalina District Municipality]] there are more than 200 lakes.
== Places of interest ==
In Ignalina and around the town there are more than 130 interesting places to visit. For example, Ignalina Regional Museum, Paliesius Manor, Monument to Ignas and Lina, Palūšė St. Joseph's Church, Bell Tower, and Chapel, which is a Cultural Monument built in the second half of XVIII century, Beekeeping Museum in Stripeikiai, which is the only beekeeping museum in Lithuania, etc.
In some places there are organizing educational programs and special showcases, such as the baking of Šakotis in the restaurant "Romnesa“.
== Festivals ==
In Ignalina, there are traditional festivals including the opening and closing of the summer season, the biannual festival "Ežerų sietuva", spring and autumn fairs, etc.
==Education institutions==
* [[Ignalina regional gymnasium|Ignalina Česlovas Kudaba Gymnasium]]
* Ignalina school-kindergarten "Šaltinėlis"
* [[Ignalina Mikas Petrauskas music school]]
==Notable people==
* [[Jonas Kindurys]] (b. 1946), architect, diplomat
* [[Arūnas Bubnys]] (b. 1961), historian
* [[Mantas Strolia]] (b. 1986), skier
* [[Algimantas Šalna]] (b. 1960), biathlete
* Ričardas Griaznovas (b. 1973), biathlete
* Igoris Ščekočichinas (b. 1980), biathlete
*[[Tomas Kaukėnas]] (b. 1990), biathlete
*[[Diana Rasimovičiūtė]] (b. 1984), biathlete
*[[Modestas Vaičiulis]] (b. 1989), skier
* Aurelija Tamašauskaitė (b. 1999), swimmer
* Valdas Ozarinskas (b. 1961), architect
==Twin towns – sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Lithuania}}
Ignalina is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Mokytis niekada nevėlu|url=http://ignalina.lt/index.php?2483455807|website=Ignalina.lt|language=lt|date=2019-05-14|access-date=2019-09-18}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Büren, Westphalia|Büren]], Germany
*{{flagicon|NOR}} [[Østfold]], Norway
*{{flagicon|CZE}} [[Prachatice]], Czech Republic
*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Gmina Serock|Serock]], Poland
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Ignalina}}
* [http://www.ignalina.lt/ City official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127132259/http://www.ignalina.lt/ |date=2007-01-27 }}
* [http://www.kudabosprogimnazija.lt/ Česlovas Kudaba progymnasium official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327113647/http://www.kudabosprogimnazija.lt/ |date=2019-03-27 }}
* [http://muzika.ignalina.lm.lt Mikas Petrauskas music school official website]
* [http://www.irg.lt Gymnasium official website]
* [http://saltinelis.ignalina.lm.lt School-kindergarten "Šaltinėlis" official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126091134/http://www.saltinelis.ignalina.lm.lt/ |date=2016-01-26 }}
{{Utena County}}
[[Category:Ignalina| ]]
[[Category:Cities in Utena County]]
[[Category:Cities in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Ski areas and resorts in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Ignalina District Municipality]]