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{{other uses}}
{{Infobox settlement <!--more fields are available for this Infobox--See Template:Infobox Settlement-->
|name = Joniškis
|nickname =
|settlement_type= City
|pushpin_map            =Lithuania 
|pushpin_label_position =bottom<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption    =Location of Joniškis
|image_skyline          =Joniskio centras.JPG
|image_flag = Flag of Joniskis.gif
|image_shield = Coat of arms of Joniskis.svg
|coordinates      = {{coord|56|14|0|N|23|36|0|E|region:LT_type:city(11000)|display=inline,title}}
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = {{LTU}}
|subdivision_type1= [[Regions of Lithuania|Ethnographic&nbsp;region]]
|subdivision_name1= [[Aukštaitija]]
|subdivision_type2= [[Counties of Lithuania|County]]
|subdivision_name2= [[Šiauliai County]]
|subdivision_type3= [[List of municipalities of Lithuania|Municipality]]
|subdivision_name3= [[Joniškis District Municipality]]
|subdivision_type4= [[Elderships of Lithuania|Eldership]]
|subdivision_name4= Joniškis eldership
|subdivision_type6= [[Capital (political)|Capital of]]
|subdivision_name6= [[Joniškis District Municipality]] <br> Joniškis eldership
|established_date = 1526
|established_title= First mentioned
|established_date2= 1616
|established_title2=Granted [[Magdeburg rights|city rights]]
|population_total = 8,455
|population_as_of = 2022
|leader_party     = 
|leader_title     = Mayor
|leader_name      = Vitalijus Gailius
|timezone=[[Eastern European Time|EET]]
|utc_offset=+2
|timezone_DST=[[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
|utc_offset_DST=+3
|website= {{URL|https://joniskis.lt/}}
}}
'''Joniškis''' ({{pronunciation|Joniskis.ogg}}; [[Samogitian language|Samogitian]]: ''Juonėškis''; {{langx|pl|Janiszki}}) is a city in northern [[Lithuania]] with a population of about 9,900. It is located 39 kilometers north of [[Šiauliai]] and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–[[Latvia]] border. Joniškis is the municipal and administrative centre of [[Joniškis district municipality]].

==Name==
Joniškis is the [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] name of the town. Historical versions of the name in other languages include [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Janiszki'', [[Russian language|Russian]]: Янишки ''Yanishki'', [[Yiddish]]: יאַנישאָק ''Yanishok'', [[Latvian language|Latvian]]: ''Jānišķe'', and German: ''Jonischken''.

==History==
[[File:Independence Square in Joniškis with the Columns of Gediminas, Double Cross of the Jagiellonians and Vytis (Waikymas), 1929.jpg|thumb|left|Independence Square in 1929 with the [[Columns of Gediminas]] and the [[Jagiellonian dynasty|Jagiellonian Cross]]]]
Joniškis was established in the beginning of the 16th century. It was mentioned in written sources on 23 February 1536 when [[Bishops of Vilnius]] and [[Bishop of Samogitia|Samogitia]] visited the area and found that people still practiced the [[Lithuanian mythology|old pagan faith]]. People were worshiping the God of Thunder ([[Perkūnas]]), fire, snakes and other pagan deities. The bishop of Vilnius, [[John of the Lithuanian Dukes]] baptized the locals and established a new parish on 23 February 1536. A wooden church was built and the town of Joniškis was built around it. The bishop of Vilnius named the town Joniškis after his own name Jonas. Joniškis was on the crossroad of important trade roads.<ref>{{cite book|title=Joniškis. Mūsų Lietuva, T. 3.|date=1966|publisher=Lietuvių enciklopedijos leidykla|location=Bostonas|page=58}}</ref> It was located in the [[Duchy of Samogitia]] in the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] within the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].

During World War II, the town was under Soviet occupation from 1940, and then under [[German occupation of Lithuania during World War II|German occupation]] from 1941 to 1944. In late 1941, 148 Jewish men were shot near Joniškis in the nearby forest. The remaining Jews (men, women and children) were murdered in the forest in September 1941. 493 people were murdered in total by an [[Einsatzgruppen]] of Joniškis policemen and Lithuanian nationalists supervised by the Germans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://holocaustatlas.lt/EN/#a_atlas/search//page/1/item/93/|title=Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania}}</ref>

==Infrastructure==
[[File:Joniškis,_katalikų_bažnyčia.JPG|thumb|upright|Joniškis church]]
With the Church of the Accession of the Holy Virgin Mary (founded in 1901) and a complex of two Jewish synagogues – the [[Red Synagogue of Joniškis|Red]] and [[White Synagogue of Joniškis|White Synagogues]], built in 1897 and 1823, respectively – at its center, the town has the status of an urban architectural heritage site.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lithuanian Heritage Registry|url=https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-search|website=kvr.kpd.lt|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref>

A [[Rail Baltica|railway line]] connecting [[Riga]] and [[Šiauliai]] runs along the western boundary of the town. West of the railway are the town's allotment gardens, the Lutheran Cemetery and the Cemetery for the Victims of World War II. Joniškis has two water [[reservoirs]] formed by dams on the River Sidabra. Joniškis has the [[Jonas Avyžius Public Library]] of Joniškis District Municipality, the Basketball Museum and a large animal compound feed manufacturing plant "Joniškio Grūdai".

==Climate==
Joniškis has a warm-summer [[humid continental climate]] (''Dfb'' in the [[Köppen climate classification]]).

<div style="width:70%;">
{{Weather box
|location = Joniškis
|metric first = yes
|single line = yes
|Jan high C = -1.4
|Feb high C = -0.4
|Mar high C = 4.5
|Apr high C = 11.6
|May high C = 17.2
|Jun high C = 20.2
|Jul high C = 22.7
|Aug high C = 21.6
|Sep high C = 16.9
|Oct high C = 10.1
|Nov high C = 5
|Dec high C = 1.2
|year high C =
|Jan mean C = -3.5
|Feb mean C = -2.9
|Mar mean C = 0.8
|Apr mean C = 7
|May mean C = 12.7
|Jun mean C = 16.2
|Jul mean C = 18.8
|Aug mean C = 17.8
|Sep mean C = 13.3
|Oct mean C = 7.5
|Nov mean C = 3.3
|Dec mean C = -0.4
|year mean C =
|Jan low C = -5.8
|Feb low C = -5.7
|Mar low C = -2.8
|Apr low C = 2.1
|May low C = 7.4
|Jun low C = 11.3
|Jul low C = 14.4
|Aug low C = 13.8
|Sep low C = 9.8
|Oct low C = 4.9
|Nov low C = 1.4
|Dec low C = -2.2
|year low C =
|Jan precipitation mm = 45
|Feb precipitation mm = 40
|Mar precipitation mm = 41
|Apr precipitation mm = 45
|May precipitation mm = 62
|Jun precipitation mm = 72
|Jul precipitation mm = 85
|Aug precipitation mm = 72
|Sep precipitation mm = 56
|Oct precipitation mm = 59
|Nov precipitation mm = 52
|Dec precipitation mm = 45
|year precipitation =
|date=May 2021|source=https://en.climate-data.org/europe/lithuania/siauliai-county/joniskis-12767/
}}
</div>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px">
Joniškis, ženklas.JPG|Border mark
Joniškis, savivaldybė.JPG|City municipality main building
Joniškis, pėsčiųjų gatvė.JPG|Pedestrian street
Joniškis, baltoji sinagoga.JPG|White Synagogue
Joniskjis - panoramio - Laima Gūtmane (simka….jpg|[[Joniškis Synagogue Complex]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Joniskis Synagogue Complex|url=https://www.wmf.org/project/joniskis-synagogue-complex|publisher=World Monuments Fund|access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Joniškis White Synagogue Re-Opens|url=https://www.lzb.lt/en/2017/06/29/joniskis-white-synagogue-reopens/|website=LZB.lt|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>
Joniškis, centras.JPG|Central street (former market square)
Joniškis, centre.JPG|Reconstructed former market square
Joniškis, Žagarės g.JPG|Old town
Joniškis, kultūros centras.JPG|Joniškis Centre of Culture
Joniškis, meno mokykla.JPG|Joniškis School of Arts
Joniškis, krepšinio muziejus.JPG|[[Basketball]] museum
Joniškis,_teismas.JPG|Court
</gallery>

==Notable people==
*[[Laurence Harvey]]<ref>{{cite web|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/27/archives/laurence-harvey-screen-actor-is-dead-at-45-attained-stardom-with.html |title=Laurence Harvey, Screen Actor, Is Dead at 45 – Attained Stardom With Role in 'Room at the Top' The Screen's Perfect Cad Enigmatic Flamboyance Was Also in 'Butterfield 8 and 'Manchurian Candidate' An Arrogant Manner |date=1973-11-27 |access-date=2013-01-04}}</ref>
*[[Maksimas Katche]]
*[[Charles Segal (pianist)|Charles Segal]]
*[[Andrius Šležas]]
*[[Adomas Varnas]]
*[[Benas Veikalas]]

==Twin towns – sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Lithuania}}
Joniškis is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Miestai partneriai|url=http://www.joniskis.lt/lit/Miestai-partneriai-/3|website=joniskis.lt|publisher=Joniškio rajono savivaldybė|language=lt|accessdate=2022-11-21}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
<!--Alūksne - cooperation, not twinning-->
*{{flag icon|LVA}} [[Auce Municipality|Auce]], Latvia
*{{flag icon|LVA}} [[Dobele Municipality|Dobele]], Latvia
*{{flag icon|LVA}} [[Jelgava Municipality]], Latvia
*{{flag icon|POL}} [[Konin]], Poland
*{{flag icon|RUS}} [[Novoselitsky District]], Russia
*{{flag icon|GER}} [[Sulingen]], Germany
*{{flag icon|MDA}} [[Ungheni]], Moldova
*{{flag icon|SWE}} [[Vimmerby Municipality|Vimmerby]], Sweden
*{{flag icon|EST}} [[Võru]], Estonia
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.joniskis.lt/ Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190309002132/http://joniskis.lt/ |date=2019-03-09 }}
*[http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=352 The murder of the Jews of Joniškis] during World War II, at [[Yad Vashem]] website.

{{commons category|Joniškis}}
{{Siauliai County}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joniskis}}
[[Category:Joniškis| ]]
[[Category:Cities in Šiauliai County]]
[[Category:Cities in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Holocaust locations in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Joniškis District Municipality]]