kaunas
Home of the devil
Lithuanias second city has a museum for the devil. Something that is rare in Europe. Through out its history its been an important city. The Teutonic knights tried to gather the baltic countries under one ruler - the castle of the city did stop it. In the years 1920-40 it even becam capital of the country, since its real capital was captured by Poland. Today you find the countries longest shopping street here. So the city is a great place to take a beer or coffee and enjoy life.
Bernadine Monastery
In 1468 the Polish province Cathedral Chapter, having secured the support of the ruler Kazimierz Jagiellon (Kazimieras Jogailaitis) and the permission of the Pope, decided to settle Bernardine (Franciscan observants) friars in the Lithuanian Grand Duchy (LGD). It was decided that the first monasteries would be established in Vilnius and Kaunas – the strategic towns of the LGD. The official Kaunas Bernardine monastery founding paper was compiled on 4 April 1471 in Vilnius. Stanislaw Sudiwoj (Stanislovas Sudivojaitis), Grodno’s Elder and Kazimierz Jagiellon’s (Kazimieras Jogailaitis) marshal, presented the Bernardines with his inherited estate with a garden near Kaunas castle on the shore of the River Nemunas, and it was on this land plot where the St. George the Martyr Church and Bernardine Monastery were constructed. In 1530 Pope Clement VII established the Lithuanian province, on the request from Lithuanians (the province comprised of Kaunas, Vilnius, Tikocin and Polock monasteries) and so St. George the Martyr Church and Bernardine Monastery became an integral part of Kaunas. Since 1990 nuns again live here.
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Church of St. Francis Xavier
The church dedicated to St. Francis Xavier was built at the Town Hall Square in the Old Town by Jesuits. They opened their first residence in Kaunas in 1642 and established a chapel in the House of Perkūnas in 1643. Later they also founded a first four-form school in the city in 1649. The construction of the church started in 1666, and it was consecrated in 1722.
Tsarist Russian government gave the church to the Orthodox church for their use in 1824. The church was again assigned to the Jesuits only in 1924. After Lithuania was occupied by Soviets the St. Francis Xavier church was turned into a technical school, the interior of the church was used as a hall of sports. The church was returned again to the Jesuits in 1989. A renovation of the church took place in 1992. |
Kaunas Castle
Kaunas Castle is a medieval castle situated in Kauna. Archeological evidence suggests that it was originally built during the mid-14th century, in the Gothic style. Its site is strategic – a rise on the banks of the Nemunas River near its confluence with the Neris River. At the beginning of the 21st century, about one-third of the castle was still standing.
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Kaunas Cathedral Basilica
Kaunas Cathedral Basilica (Lithuanian: Kauno Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Povilo arkikatedra bazilika) is a Roman Catholic cathedral basilica
. The exact date when the first Gothic style church dedicated to apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, was built is unknown, but it was first mentioned in written sources in 1413. The first parochial school in Kaunas at the St. Peter and St. Paul church was mentioned in 1473. The construction works were concluded only in 1624. The church greatly suffered from wars in 1655 and was rebuilt in 1671, gaining some Renaissance features. Only one of the towers was rebuilt after the fire of the roof in 1732. As a part of renovation, the internal decorations were funded by the King Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1771. The main altar, a lectern and a choir were installed by Tomasz Podhajski in 1775. The present day shape of the building is from a further renovation in 1800. The church was promoted to cathedral status by Pope Leo XIII in 1895. It received the Basilica title in 1926, when the Diocese of Samogitia was reorganized into the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas by Pope Pius XI. The cathedral, being 84 m long, 28 m height and 34 m wide, is the largest Gothic church in Lithuania. The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, built in 1895, is an independent extension of the southern nave with carved wood furnishings in the neo-gothic style. |
Kaunas Synagogue
Kaunas Synagogue (Lithuanian: Kauno choralinė sinagoga) is one of two operating choral synagogues in Lithuania. The Neo-Baroque synagogue was built in 1872. In 1902, before the Holocaust in Lithuania, the city had some 25 synagogues and prayer houses.
The plot for the new synagogue was bestowed to the Kovno Jewish community by the merchant Lewin Boruch Minkowski, the father of Oskar Minkowski and Hermann Minkowski; until 1873 he also subsidized the major part of its construction. Dating form 1871, this radically designed synagogue, claims to have one of the most beautiful altars in the entire Jewish world. A memorial to the estimated 50,000 Lithuanian Jewish children killed during the Holocaust can be found at the rear of the building, complete with 37 stone tablets showing in which towns and cities they lost their lives and just how many of them died in each one. |
Laisves Aleja
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Laisvės Alėja (literally Liberty Boulevard or Liberty Avenue) is a prominent pedestrian street in the city. It stretches between the St. Michael the Archangel's Byzantine-style church to the Central Post Office and Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum, around the Kaunas Old Town, the oldest section of Kaunas. For a long time it was the main commercial district of Kaunas.
Stretching for 1.6 kilometres (1 mi), Laisvės Alėja is the longest pedestrian street in Eastern Europe. Motor vehicles cannot travel along Laisvės Alėja, but can cross it at intersections with other streets where motor traffic is permitted. The boulevard is separated into two walkways by a median strip lined with linden trees. Both Kaunas State Musical Theatre and Kaunas State Drama Theatre are located along the street, as well as the Kaunas Red Cross Hospital. Much of the construction around Laisvės Alėja originally took place during the latter half of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century. At the time, Kaunas Fortress was also being constructed around the city. As a result all the buildings were limited to a height of 2–3 floors, with a few exceptions such as St. Michael the Archangel's church, built in 1895. In 1982, Laisvės Alėja was reconstructed according to plans of architects V. Palauskas and V. Paleckienė, and completely transformed into pedestrian area (as it was planned as early as 1953). |
romas kalanta memorial
Romas Kalanta (February 22, 1953 – May 15, 1972) was a 19-year-old Lithuanian high school student known for his public self-immolation protesting Soviet regime in Lithuania.
At noon on May 14, 1972, Kalanta poured 3 liters of gasoline on himself and set himself on fire in the square adjoining the Laisvės Alėja in front of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre, where in 1940 the People's Seimas declared establishment of the Lithuanian SSR and petitioned the Soviet Union to admit Lithuania as one of the soviet socialist republics. He died about 14 hours later in a hospital. Before the suicide, Kalanta left his notebook with a brief note on a bench. Its content became known only after the declaration of independence in 1990 and opening up of secret KGB archives. The note read "blame only the regime for my death" (Lithuanian: Dėl mano mirties kaltinkite tik santvarką). No other notes were found to explain in more detail what provoked the suicide. His funeral procession touched off two full days of rebellion in which thousands of people took to the streets shouting: "Freedom for Lithuania!". They attacked a police station and the party offices. The gathered people, mostly high school students and young workers, broke into a politically charged riot, which was forcibly dispersed by KGB, militsiya, and Internal Troops. The next day, about 3,000 people marched along the Laisvės Alėja of which 402 were arrested. In 1972 alone, 13 more people committed suicide by self-immolation. Kalanta became a symbol of the Lithuanian resistance throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 2000, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis. |
St. George's Church
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The church of St. George was part of the Bernardine Monastery. The first wooden church was built in 1468. It was replaced by the current brick church in the late 15th century and completed before 1503. It’s been ruined by fire three times, suffered the wrath of the Moscow army during the war of 1656-1659 and then had a bit of a rest during the 18th century before Napoleon turned it into a warehouse.
During Soviet times, the church was used to store medicine. It was returned to the Friars in 1993 in a pretty shabby condition, and restoration of its outstanding if run-down Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque interior has been slow to say the least. In the 2010s an new roof was added. Ongoing restoration work continues around a now fully functioning church that also hosts the occasional concert. |
St. Michael the Archangel Church
The church was designed as an Orthodox cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in 1890 by K. H. Lymarenko. Official groundbreaking was celebrated on 29 June 1891. The cathedral was completed in four years, and was inaugurated on 17 September 1895.
Kaunas cathedral stood out among similar military churches by its size (it was designed to fit 2,000 worshipers) and its unusual architecture - employing triple Corinthian columns in an otherwise typical "neo-Byzantine" (Romanesque) five-dome design. In total the exterior has 266 large and small columns and pilasters. This eclectic spin-off of mainstream "Byzantine" architecture (the so-called Roman Byzantine style) was hailed by contemporary architectural journalists, but never gained popularity. As built, the cathedral reached 50 meters height; it was finished in three shades of sandstone color with equal-armed cross ornament. For the interior the structure relied on four load-bearing pylons designed to appear slimmer and lighter than in reality. The space between external and internal shells of the main dome was filled with hollow clay resonators. Cut from granite, floor tesseras were bought from abroad. In the dome above the altar were images of two Archangels or evangelists. The main altar's stained glass showed God's entrance to heaven. Smaller domes housed bells; one of them had been founded in 1681. Just inside the church and to the right is the entrance to the catacombs, which is accessible to the public. During the Soviet occupation, it was used as an art gallery. Nowadays it serves as a Roman Catholic church. The other popular name of the church is Soboras. |
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Town Hall
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The Town Hall is distinguished by its slenderness and grace. Its tower of height of 53 meters is the highest in the old city.
. The construction of Kaunas town hall started in 1542. At first it was a one-storey building with not daubed facade and vaulting cellars. In the 16th century the first floor was built and the eight storey tower was built in the east of the building. The ground floor was adjusted for trading and prison guards, the first floor - for trial, magistrate, treasure, archive and office. Cellars were used to store the goods. The cellars of the tower were used as a prison. In the year 1638 the renaissance reconstruction was made. In the year 1771 -1775 the second reconstruction was made by architect J. Matekeris. He rebuilt the part of building, which was demolished in the 17th century, replanned the premises and added additional floor to the tower. He decorated the town hall with baroque and classicism style decorations, rebuilt the pediment and erected there the sculptures of Grand Dukes of Lithuania (they survived only until the 19th century). Kaunas Town hall is called "The white swan". Today it is used for the wedding ceremonies, official welcome of city guests, signing of agreements and official events. It features a historical museum of the city mayor, and stores the most important attributes of the city used in ceremonies – a great city key, a mayor’s mark (a gilded chain), samples of the city’s coats of arms and flags, a ceremonial master’s sign and a traditional bell, and the historic flag of the temporary capital city of 1930. |
Vilniaus gatvė
Vilniaus gatvė is the oldest street. She was formerly part of the old road in the direction of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The houses were in the Middle Ages wooden. Only later red brick buildings emerged. These were built by wealthy citizens. Some such houses are still very good condition. Vilniaus gatvė forms a pedestrian zone, the main axis of the old town of Kaunas, which leads from the Town Hall Square Kaunas to Laisvės alėja.
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Vytautas' the Great Church
Vytautas' the Great Church of the Assumption of The Holy Virgin Mary (Lithuanian: Vytauto Didžiojo bažnyčia) is a Roman Catholic church and is one of the oldest churches in the city and an important example of Gothic architecture in Lithuania.
The church was built on the north bank of the Neman River around 1400 for Franciscan monks and foreign merchants. It was ordered and funded by Vytautas the Great as a commendation to the Blessed Virgin Mary for saving his life after a major defeat in the Battle of the Vorskla River. The church was constructed in Gothic style and is an example of the Lithuanian Brick Gothic architecture. The church layout of the Latin cross is unique in the Lithuanian Gothic. Over the years the ground level around the church has been raised significantly and the façades became lower; to compensate for this, the windows were shortened and the side portals were removed. The bell tower was added later and has probably been used to guide ships navigating the Neman River. In 1812 it was burned by French troops. The Franciscan monastery was closed by Russian administration after the November Uprising. In 1845 the Catholic Church was closed and later was rebuilt and reopened as an Orthodox church. From 1903 it served as military barracks. In 1915 Germans organised a warehouse here. The building returned to the Catholic Church in 1919 and underwent major renovation works in 1931–1938, and again in 1978–1982. |
Žmuidzinavičius Museum
Žmuidzinavičius Museum, commonly known as the Devils' Museum (Lithuanian: Velnių muziejus), is a museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting sculptures and carvings of devils from all over the world. As of 2009, its holdings encompass about 3,000 exhibits. The collection was initiated by painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (1876–1966). A memorial museum was established in his house after his death. At the time the devil collection had only 260 sculptures. As the collection grew, enriched by a number of gifts presented to the museum by its visitors, a separate three-storey extension was built in 1982. The devils, collected from different cultures, are diverse: some are just works of art, while others are incorporated into useful objects, some represent folk myths, while others express modern political ideas. For example, one sculpture depicts Hitler and Stalin as devils in a dance of death over a playground littered with human bones.
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