Labanoras ( �aba'noːras, is a small town within the Labanoras Regional Park in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is situated on and is surrounded by the Labanoras Regional Park, the largest regional park in Lithuania. As a center of the Labanoras Park, the town attracts tourists. A hotel and restaurant were opened in a former school building in 2003. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, the town had 59 residents.

History

In other languages, Labanoras is referred to as: Labanary, Labanoro, , and Labanore (Yiddish). The settlement is known from 1373. In 1386, Grand Duke Jogaila gifted Labanoras and other settlements to the newly established

Diocese of Vilnius In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. In 1965 a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

of about 470 coins was found near the town cemetery. It contained Prague groschen minted by Charles IV (1316–1378) and

Wenceslaus Wenceslaus, Wenceslas, Wenzeslaus and Wenzslaus (and other similar names) are Latinized forms of the Slavic names#In Slovakia and Czech_Republic, Czech name Václav. The other language versions of the name are , , , , , , among others. It origina ...

(1361–1419) as well as early coins from the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

(1350–1430) and

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

(1427–1492). It is believed that the treasure was buried during the 1470s. The first church was mentioned in 1522,

folwark ''Folwark'' is a Polish word derived from the German ''Vorwerk''. A Folwark or Vorwerk is an agricultural estate or a separate branch operation of such an estate, historically a serfdom-based farm and agricultural enterprise (a type of latif ...

in 1539, manor in 1568, parish school in 1781. The town had 196 residents in 1866, 443 in 1923, 264 in 1959, and 186 in 1979. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in the summer of 1941,

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

and their local Hiwis executed 6 Jews and 1 Lithuanian. In 1991 massgrave was surrounded by chain and plaque was installed with inscription in Yiddish and Lithuanian: “''In memory of the Jews of Inturkė who were murdered by Hitler‘s executioners and their local helpers''”.

Labanoras Church

A miraculous painting of Mother of God was first mentioned during a canonical visitation in 1655. A wooden was built in 1820, but it burned down in December 2009. As of January 2011, no official report had been released. Unofficially, the possibility of an accidental fire due to faulty electrical installation was ruled out leaving arson as the main suspect. It is believed that the church was robbed of its over 30 valuable paintings (15 of them were state-protected monuments of art) and then burned to cover up the crime. During the cleanup, 1,017 coins (German

pfennig The pfennig (; . 'pfennigs' or 'pfennige' ; currency symbol, symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former Germany, German coin or note, which was an official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valua ...

s, Russian kopeks, Lithuanian centas) were found under the burned altar. A reconstruction is underway, financed by the government and private donations.

References

External links

* {{Vilnius County Towns in Vilnius County Towns in Lithuania Holocaust locations in Lithuania