Veiveriai is a town 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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, its population was 1,167. It is located about southwest of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

on the road to

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by Marijampolė#Names, several other names) is the Capital city, capital of Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The city's population stood ...

History

The town was first mentioned in written sources in 1744, but began growing a century later when a large postal station was established on the

–

Suwałki Suwałki (; ; or סוּוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. A relatively young ci ...

road, part of a longer

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

–

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

route, in 1838–1839. Mail coaches would stop here to change horses and pick up passengers. The office was closed after the postal route was superseded by the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, built in 1859–1861. During the

Uprising of 1863 The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last in ...

, a battle occurred between local rebels (some 620 men) and Russians army on August 21, 1863. Poorly armed rebels were defeated and lost about 80 men before retreating. After establishment of the teachers' seminary, Veiveriai grew as a center of education and culture. In 1935, during an economic crisis, the town was part of fierce farmers' protests against the government of

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

. Two protesters were killed. After World War II, Veiveriai supported armed anti-Soviet resistance. In 1989 ''Skausmo kalnelis'' (Hill of Sorrows) was created where bodies of killed resistance fighters were buried. The hill was incorporated into the town's coat of arms, adopted in 2004.

Education

In 1866

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

ist authorities established teachers' courses (in 1872 reorganized into the Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary) in the old post office building. The seminary trained teachers for elementary schools in the

Suwałki Governorate Suwałki Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of Congress Poland of the Russian Empire, which had its seat in the city of Suwałki. It covered a territory of about . History In 1867, the territories of the Augustów ...

and became and important center of the

Lithuanian National Revival The Lithuanian National Revival, alternatively the Lithuanian National Awakening or Lithuanian nationalism (), was a period of the history of Lithuania in the 19th century, when a major part of Lithuanian-inhabited areas belonged to the Russian ...

. During World War I, the seminary was evacuated into Russia, but never returned. Its former building was used to establish a secondary school in 1919. The school was named after Tomas Žilinkas, who taught at the teachers' seminary for 37 years and encouraged his students to read banned Lithuanian books. As of May 2008, the school had 458 students and 45 teachers. In 1989 a music school was established in Veiveriai. In 1994 it was renamed after opera singer Antanas Kučingis and expanded to include non-musical specialties. The school has 120 students and 17 teachers.

Religion

The first chapel in Veiveriai was built in the second half of the 18th century. In 1818 nobles of the Godlewski family built a wooden church, staffed by

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

s from Zapyškis. Since 1846 Veiveriai, as a center of a parish, had its own priests. In 1853 Józef Godlewski built a brick

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

church, named after Saint Louis. The church was reconstructed in 1930s when

Mykolas Krupavičius Mykolas Krupavičius (1 October 1885, Balbieriškis, Lithuania – 4 December 1970, Chicago, U.S.) was a Lithuanian priest and politician. He is best known for his involvement with the land reform in the interwar Lithuania. In 1900 Krupavičiu ...

, alumni of the teachers' seminary, briefly served in Veiveriai.

References

External links

Wejwery
in the

Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries () is a monumental Polish gazetteer, published 1880–1902 in Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns ...

(1893) {{Kaunas County Towns in Lithuania Towns in Kaunas County