Merkinė (also known by several other names) is a small town in Alytus County, which is located at the confluence of the Neman and Merkys rivers.

[2] The first settlers inhabited the confluence of Merkys and Nemunas in the 9th-10th century BC, at the end of the Paleolithic.

On top of Merkinė hill-fort stood one of the most important Lithuanian castles, built in the 13th century, which guarded against invasions of the Teutonic Order.

[5] Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland, Jogaila, ensured city rights for Vilnius in 1387, this document was written in Merkinė castle.

Merkinė flourished in the 16th-17th centuries – based on the crossroads of important water and land roads, and receiving royal privileges, the town center has become brickwork.

The town was known to be one of the favorite holiday places for the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Władysław IV Vasa, who also died here in 1648.

In 1889 banned Lithuanian press was secretly distributed, priests K. Jagminas and J. Bakšys, book carriers K. Barysas, K. Milius and others acted against Polonization and Russification.

The beauty of the surroundings of Merkinė and its history was sung by Vincas Krėvė in the book "Dainavos šalies senų žmonių padavimai" (The tales of the old people of the Dainava land) After the Soviet occupation in the surroundings of Merkinė Lithuanian partisans of Dainava military district were active.

In villages around Merkinė, Soviet destruction battalions burned down 48 homesteads, killed 37 people, 120 were arrested.

[10] On September 10, 1941, 854 Jews from Merkinė, as well as from Liepalingis, Liškiava, and Seirijai were shot in a grove near the Jewish cemetery[11] by German Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators.