left, Bell tower of Church of St. Bartholomew
Giedraičiai is a town in
Molėtai district municipality
Molėtai () ( pl, Malaty) is a town in north eastern Lithuania surrounded by lakes. One of the oldest settlements in Lithuania, it is a popular resort for the inhabitants of Vilnius. According to the 2013 census, it had 6,302 inhabitants.
The tow ...
,
Lithuania with about 700 residents. It is located some 45 km north of
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, capital of Lithuania, on the banks of Lake Kiementas. It is the capital of an
elderate
A ''seniūnija'' (in English: eldership, elderate, ward, parish, or subdistrict) is the smallest Subdivisions of Lithuania, administrative division of Lithuania. An eldership may comprise a very small region consisting of few villages, one ...
. The town, according to a local legend founded by Duke
Giedrius, is first mentioned in written sources in 1338 when
Grand Duke Gediminas
Gediminas ( la, Gedeminne, ; – December 1341) was the king or Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death. He is credited with founding this political entity and expanding its territory which later spanned the area ranging from t ...
signed a peace treaty with the
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...
. For a long time it was the centre of
Giedraitis family estate.
History
It is known that since 1777 the town had a parish school. A hundred years later it was reorganized to a grammar, and later to middle school. Today the high school is named after Antanas Jaroševičius, a painter who in 1912 published an album of Lithuanian crosses. The school building houses a small museum about local history.
In 1410 Church of
St. Bartholomew the Apostle was built. It was rebuilt in 1809 in the
Classicism style by Bishop of
Samogitia
Samogitia or Žemaitija ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
Józef Giedroyć ( lt, Juozapas Giedraitis), whose princely family originated from Giedraičiai. In 1838, after his death and according to his wishes, Józef Giedroyć's heart was inlaid into one of the walls. In the mid-19th century a new
bell tower was built. It is interesting because of unusual design: stone walls are decorated with red bricks.
In 1920 the town witnessed fights between
Lithuanians and
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...
led by
Lucjan Żeligowski. After the
Polish-Lithuanian War, Żeligowski staged a fake rebellion by Polish army units and captured Vilnius on October 9, 1920. His troops were advancing further, but were stopped near Giedraičiai and
Širvintos
Širvintos () is a city in Vilnius County in the eastern part of Lithuania. It is the administrative center of the Širvintos district municipality.
The word ''Širvintos'' is the plural form of the name of the Širvinta River, which flows thro ...
on November 17–21.
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
interfered and the fighting stopped, but the disputes over the
Vilnius region
Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time.
The territor ...
were not resolved. Today the town commemorates the Lithuanian victims with a monument which has survived the Soviet regime. On ornament from the monument, a sword and a trumpet, is used in the coat of arms of the town.
During the occupation of Lithuania by Germany and its rule under German military, on July 7, 1941 and at the beginning of August 1941, a
death squad of Lithuanian collaborators, ordered by German military administration, murdered Jews of the town in mass executions.
Transport
Molėtai Aero Club (
ICAO airport code
The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: ''Location Indicators'', a ...
: EYMO) is located some 7 km north of Giedraičiai.
See also
*
Giedroyć
References
#
External links
*
Photo gallery*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giedraiciai
Towns in Lithuania
Towns in Utena County
Vilensky Uyezd
Holocaust locations in Lithuania
