There are 186 lakes in the district. The largest of them is Alausas with an area of 1073 hectares. Lake Tauragnai is the deepest in Lithuania, with a depth of 60.5 meters. There are about 33,000 hectares of cultivated land and about 36,000 hectares of forests in the district.

Utena is one of the oldest localities in Lithuania. As on old legend says, a great duke Utenis built a castle there and founded a town. Utena was mentioned for the first time in 1261. During the period of the Swordbearers, invasion of Lithuania in 1373-75, Utena was devastated. In 1655 it again was damaged by the Russian army, then in 1700-21 it was destroyed in the great Nothern War. In 1812 it suffered from Napoleon's army.

The town began to grow after the highway from St. Petersburg to Warsaw was built through Utena in 1830-36. The old post office station, which is the oldest building from those times, is still standing.

The real growth of industry began in 1960 when a plant producing electric stoves was founded. Afterwards new enterprises in knitted goods, meat, beverages and milk products started to operate. There are 8 large enterprises in the town and about 8400 workers are employed there. Food production factories account for 69% of the industrial products.

There are 27 educational institutions, including 3 colleges, 8 high schools, a library and an ethnographical museum. One can attend a music school, an art school, a sport school or the Culture Palace.

There are six municipalities, which report to the county administration. The county administration is appointed by the Lithuanian Government. The council for the Utena district was elected in 1995 for two years and has 27 members. It elects the mayor and deputy mayor.

Utena District Municipality
Utenio Avenue 4
LT-4910 Utena
Lithuania

Tel. 370 39 51233; Mayor Mr R. Dijokas
Tel. 370 39 51442; Deputy Mayor Mr V.Samuolis
Tel. 370 39 52989; Administrator Mr L. Rutkauskas
Fax 370 39 59490
E-mail

The residental district of Utena during the festival.