Kaltinėnai
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| Kaltinėnai | |
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| — Town — | |
 Kaltinėnai
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| Coordinates: 55°34′00″N 22°27′00″E / 55.5666667°N 22.45°ECoordinates: 55°34′00″N 22°27′00″E / 55.5666667°N 22.45°E | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| Ethnographic region | Samogitia |
| County | Tauragė County |
| Municipality | Šilalė district municipality |
| Eldership | Kaltinėnai eldership |
| Capital of | Kaltinėnai eldership |
| First mentioned | 1370 |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 834 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Kaltinėnai is a little town on the west side of Lithuania, near Žemaičių highroad, Šilalė district municipality. In Kaltinėnai live about 1000 inhabitants. The town is in a hollow. People say that in the end of Ice age here was a big lake. There are many breathtaking views around Kaltinėnai. The landscape is beautiful for its many famous mounds: Skuburkalnis, Švedkalnis, Kepaluškalnis, Medvėgalis. Near Kaltinėnai run two rivers: Akmena and Ižnė.
Today Kaltinėnai is well known town in whole Lithuania. There are administration buildings, Kaltinėnai Aleksandras Stulginskis Gymnasium, entertainment house, hospital, dispensary, 2 chemists’ shops, post office, a few shops and department stores, and café. Here are many interesting places, like the church, an old wooden synagogue,[1] cross-hill, the home for elderly people, and the Reabilitation Centre.
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[edit] History
A stone axe found in the town tells that people already lived in this area in the Neolithic. Historians think that the town belonged to [[] country but later it split and Kaltinėnai became a separate region.
Kaltinėnai was first mentioned in the German chronicle as terram Kalctene in 1371. Northern Crusaders tried to conquer Kaltinėnai castle many times (in 1375, 1377 and 1389, also planned in 1386 - 1394) but local inhabitants repelled the attacks.
In the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century Kaltinėnai was one of 6 – 7 most important centres in Žemaitija. Noblemen from Kaltinėnai signed important documents. The town was so important that Vytautas the Great ordered to build one of the first Catholic churches in Žemaitija (region was heathen until 1413) and it was complete by 1421. The see of Žemaitija was founded in 1417 and it ruled the town more than 400 years.
Kaltinėnai is known as a town since 1524. It was shown on a Polish map two years later. This is an early date compared to surrounding towns.
There were over 70 farms in the town in 1638, but 30 years later only 50 of them were left. After the Great Northern War the town beggared even more, in 1773 there were only 15 and in 1778 – 19 farms which could pay tax.
In 1842, Russian tsar authorities took the ecclesiastical lands under their control and made Kaltinėnai the volost centre in 1861. In 1901 a local teacher O.Skobinas published the book called Kaltinėnai town where he described the town life in those days. He wrote that a post-office started working in 1861, a paramedic centre – in 1882, a savings bank – in 1897, a chemist – in 1898. Small markets took place every Wednesday, large ones – 6 times a year. 10 shops, tearoom-canteen and 17 craftsmen (7 tailors, 5 shoemakers, 2 blacksmiths, 2 glaziers and a woodworker) also worked in the town. 430 people lived in Kaltinėnai: 263 Catholics, 140 Jews, 15 Orthodoxies and 12 Evangelic Lutherans. It is also mentioned that a lot of people had gone to America to look for a better life.
Kaltinėnai inhabitants were very active in the revolutionary events of 1905 and the town also remained volost centre after the declaration of Lithuania Independence Act in 1918. The town grew from 660 inhabitants to 800 from 1923 till 1939. Various shops worked in the town; its cultural life was also very active.
During the German Occupation Kaltinėnai lost its Jews’ community. All Jewish people who lived in the town were herded into a temporary ghetto at first. Later, in 1941 autumn, they were all fired in Tūbinės forest.
A Lithuanian Underground Representatives’ Congress gathered in Kaltinėnai in 1944, 5 September. Its destination was to unite all patriotic organisations into one resistance centre. Although 7 representatives were caught in an accident caused by soviet reconnaissance, and German occupation authorities sent their representative to the congress, it was very important because after it the Lithuanian Army for Freedom became the main organisator of resistance.
In 1944, 7 October, Kaltinėnai was occupied by soviet army and the second Soviet Occupation started. Although its beginning was one of the most difficult times in Lithuanian history, Kaltinėnai remained considerable – it was the centre of precinct, kolkhoz and parish. The number of inhabitants decreased violently after the World War II, but it started increasing again some years later.
After Lithuania retrieved its Independence in 1990, Kaltinėnai did not lose its traditions – the town is still the centre of eldership which contains 74 settlements and can really be proud of its rich history.
[edit] Kaltinėnai Aleksandras Stulginskis Gymnasium
Since 1777 a parish school began to work in Kaltinėnai. Later there were four departments of primary school. In 1944 a pro-gymnasium was found and after 5 years it was reorganized into seven forms school. In 1951 autumn the school became secondary school. A new school building was built in 1969.
Since 1992 the school exchanges students’ delegations with the German Hankensbüttel Gymnasium.
In 1999, on the 20th of December the title of Aleksandras Stulginskis Secondary School was given the school.
In 2009, on January 29 the school became gymnasium.
Now the school comprises two parts: primary and secondary. Some departments in near villages belong to the school, too.
The primary school is found in the building that was a hostel. The length of studies is 4 years. There is a kindergarten in this building, too.
The secondary school is double-decker. Students have to learn 6 years there and if they want they can learn 2 years more for secondary grade. There are also school management, canteen, library, 2 gyms, and a museum for A. Stulginskis in the main school building.
The school has got a few traditions: First and Last Bells, Hundred-Day, School Day, European Day of Languages, Earth’s Day, EU Day and others.
Over 500 students learn and over 50 teachers work here.
In 2006 the school was the winner of the project “The Increase of Effective Use of Energy in Kaltinėnai Aleksandras Stulginskis Secondary School” and was repaired.
[edit] The Church
Since Vytautas the Great built the first wooden church in 1416, there were about 6 wooden churches in the town. Some churches were burnt; others simply fell down and were rearranged.
Penultimate church was built in 1896. It was burnt in 1988. Just a traditional masonry fence of stones with gate and wooden belfry are left. After the belfry was rearranged into a temporary chapel it lost the original form to a degree.
Current church was built in 1995. It is a modern sacral architecture building with two triangular 40 m (131.23 ft) high towers. The title of St. John the Baptist was given to the church. Its keynote is 4.5 m (14.76 ft) high The Risen Christ sculpture, built of white marble and bronze by A. Vaura. V. Švanys created beautiful and impressive stations of colourful glass for the windows of the basement chambers of the church
[edit] The Graveyard
The parish graveyard is on the west side of the town. There is an octagonal wooden folk architecture chapel on the hillock. It was built in 1798 and restored in 1989. There are also a lot of saints’ sculptures on this hillock.
There are a lot of very old, historical and artistic graves around the chapel. They are stamped with metallic crosses and other gravestones.
A high stone obelisk for Dionizas Poška stands near the chapel. D. Poška was a great poet and the founder of the Baubliai museum, the first history museum in Lithuania. D. Poška’s wife U. Poškienė and her mother R. Sasnauskienė are buried in the same place.
Marijona Stulginskienė (Aleksandras Stulginskis mother) is buried in the south east side of the graveyard hillock.
[edit] The Pilės mound (Kepaluškalnis)
The Pilės mound (or Kepaluškalnis) is one of the most valuable cultural monuments in Šilalė region.
Its hillsides are precipitous, to 20 m (65.62 ft) high. There is a ground which is about 2,250 m2 (24,218.80 sq ft) in the upper part of the mound. Its sides were surrounded by defence ramparts that are flattened now. But you can still find two ramparts and three defence ditches.
According to the size of the mound, the dimension of its defence fortifications, we can affirm that during the war with Crusaders there was one of the strongest castles in Žemaitija on the Pilės Mound.
Various finds, even shells of stone were found on the mound
[edit] The Reabilitation Centre
The Reabilitation Centre of Kaltinėnai is found not far from the church. It was built by local priest Petras Linkevičius.
There are a perfect swimming pool, baths of salt and herbs, underwater massage, a comfortable training-hall where people can come to improve their own figure and other attractions.
There is also an elderly-house next to the Reabilitation Centre.
[edit] References
- ^ Center for Jewish Art (2004). "Preserved Wooden Synagogues in Lithuania". The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved on December 17, 2008. http://cja.huji.ac.il/Architecture/Wooden-synagogues-Lithuania.htm
