Mažeikiai

a city; center of Mažeikiai Raion, Lithuanian SSR, located in the northwestern part of the republic, 291 km northwest of Vilnius. Junction of railroad lines to Liepāja, Šiauliai, and Jelgava. Population, 17,000 (1973). Mažeikiai has electrical engineering, compressor, and flax-processing plants; a brewery; and footwear and furniture factories. A petroleum refinery was under construction as of 1973. The city also has a branch of the šiauliai Polytechnic School, a people’s theater, and a museum of local lore.