Žagarė

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ŽAGARĖ

County : Šiauliai
Municipality : Joniškis

Official blazon

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on April 28, 1998.
Žagarė was first time mentioned in written sources in 1198 as Rakte, the strong castle of Ziemgaliai (Semigallians, the ancient Baltic tribe). The settlement at castle served two neighbour castles too: Veide and Aukstadvaris (also called Zvelgaicio), mentioned in 1253. It was maybe the only town of Ziemgala (Semigallia), not subjugated or not destroyed by the Livonian Order: when local Ziemgaliai realized that they cannot defend their freedom, they chose the sovereignity of Lithuania, the old ally of Ziemgala.

In 1547 the settlement was mentioned as Žagarė yet, and it was a town already. More exactly, there were two administratively different towns, located on both banks of the -vete river: Senoji Žagarė (Old Žagarė) and Naujoji Žagarė (New Žagarė). But towns were closely related and were joined to the one town later. In 1595 the Žagarė custom is first time mentioned - it was the important center of trade with the Curonia duchy (present Kurzeme region of Latvia).

The arms were granted to the town in 1998, celebrating the 800th anniversary of Žagarė. The keys symbolize that Žagarė is a checkpoint of the state border. The arms are also canting the first name of the town, Rakte (a key is "raktas" in Lithuanian).