Bitėnai

Bitėnai () is a small village in the Pagėgiai Municipality, in western Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 76, a decline from 119 in 2001. It is situated along the Nemunas River near the Rambynas hill and is known as the location of the Martynas Jankus printing press. Jankus Museum and the visitors' center of the Rambynas Regional Park are located in the village.

==History== Bitėnai was a village of peasants and fishermen. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) the village was a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights, and thus was located within the Polish–Lithuanian union, later elevated to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the 18th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany, within which it was administratively located in the province of East Prussia. The village was a frequent resting place for those traveling via the Neman River. It developed in two sections: the southern Šilėnai (along the Žiogis rivulet) and the larger more densely populated northern Užbičiai (along the Bitė rivulet). The village had a wind mill, an inn, a police station, a dairy. Its primary school is known from the 18th century. The village belonged to the manor of . The village gained prominence during the Lithuanian press ban when Martynas Jankus moved his printing press from Tilsit (now Sovetsk) to Bitėnai in 1892. The printing press operated until 1909 and published six short-lived Lithuanian-language periodicals and 104 books. Many of these publications were brought by the Lithuanian book smugglers to Lithuanian lands located in the Russian Empire since the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.