Tauragė Town (pop. 28.5 thousand) is located in the western part of Lithuania, in the plain of the lower reaches of the Nemunas River and is crossed by the Jūra River. The name of Tauragė is composed of two words having the meaning of “aurochs” (tauras) and “horn” (ragas). According to old tales, people found aurochs’ horns when gathering mushrooms in a forest. Today it is known that the Pajūris Manor was in the location of Tauragė back in 1499. A first wooden Catholic church along with a sheltered accommodation and a school was built in Tauragė in 1507. In 1567, the town with a status of a border settlement opened a customs house.  Upon having built the Tilžė-Šiauliai road through Tauragė in the middle of the 19th century, the town enjoyed a rapid growth and active trade. Over the period of the prohibition of the Lithuanian press Tauragė was a major intermediate point of Lithuanian book spreaders. The period of independence encouraged the development of Tauragė–a number of administrative buildings (presently, the monuments of architecture) and educational institutions were constructed.