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Varniai
Varniai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Varnē''; pl, Wornie) is a city in the Telšiai County, western Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the city was known as Medininkai (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Medėninkā''). It was established in the 14th century, on the bank of the Varnelė River, near an important Samogitian castle. It was the center of Samogitian Catholic church: after the baptism of Samogitia, the Samogitian Bishop resided in the town. Around 1414–1416 the first church was built, and c. 1464 the first cathedral. Varniai was the center of Samogitian episcopate until the middle of the 19th century, when authorities of the Russian Empire moved it to Kaunas. With support of Merkelis Giedraitis, Mikalojus Daukša translated and made ready for publication ''Catechism of Mikalojus Daukša, Katechizmas'', the first Lithuanian language book printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was also residence of Motiej ...
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Merkelis Giedraitis
Merkelis Giedraitis ( pl, Melchior Giedroyć; – 6 April 1609) was Bishop of Samogitia from 1576 to 1609. Educated at Protestant universities in the Duchy of Prussia and Germany, he actively combated the Reformation implementing resolutions of the Council of Trent in Samogitia. Born into the princely Giedraičiai family, he inherited a much neglected diocese that was reduced to only about 20 priests. He became known for his devotion and work to end clerical abuses, strengthen churches and schools, and increase the number of priests. Giedraitis invited the Jesuits to Kražiai where the Kražiai College was established already after his death and the Bernadines to Kretinga where they established the first monastery in Samogitia. He sponsored Mikalojus Daukša, who translated and published ''Catechism'' (1595) and ''Postil'' (1599) in the Lithuanian language—the first Lithuanian books printed within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He also supported Maciej Stryjkowski, author of t ...
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Mikalojus Daukša
Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', pl, Mikołaj Dauksza and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – February 16, 1613 in Medininkai) was a Lithuanian and Latin religious writer, translator and a Catholic church official. He is best known as the first among Lithuania's humanists to underline the need to codify and promote the Lithuanian language over Chancery Ruthenian and Polish, which were in use in the Grand Duchy at the time. Daukša's Lithuanian translation of Jacob Ledesma's catechism became the first book in Lithuanian to be published in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Born probably after 1527 somewhere in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Babėnai?),As cited in: Daukša probably received his education in Vilnius and at one of the Western European Universities. He spoke several languages and had a personal library including books by Erasmus of Rotterdam and Philip Melanchthon. Daukša was a canon of Medininkai (nowadays ...
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Samogitian Diocese
The Archdiocese of Kaunas ( la, Archidioecesis Kaunensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The episcopal see is in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. The archdiocese's motherchurch and cathedral is Kaunas Cathedral Basilica; it is also home to a Minor Basilica in a town of Šiluva, in the region of Samogitia. History Predecessor of the diocese was established according to directions from the Council of Constance on October 24, 1417 as the Diocese of Samogitia ( pl, Żmudź; lt, Žemaitija), with a see in Medininkai. It was the second Catholic diocese in ethnic Lithuanian parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On March 25, 1798 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Wigry. On July 3, 1848 it gained territory from the persisting then Diocese of Vilnius, now Lithuania's other Metropolitan see. On June 9, 1920 it lost territory to the existing Diocese of Riga (in Latvia), while in the next ...
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Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915. During the interwar period, it served as the temporary capital of Lithuania, when Vilnius was seized and controlled by Poland between 1920 and 1939. During that period Kaunas was celebrated for its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, construction of countless Art Deco and Lithuanian National Romanticism architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, the interior design of the time, and a widespread café culture. The city interwar architecture is regarded as among the finest examples of European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label. It contributed to ...
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Boris Schatz
Boris Schatz ( he, בוריס שץ; 23 December 1866 – 23 March 1932) was a Lithuanian Jewish artist and sculptor who settled in Israel. Schatz, who became known as the "father of Israeli art," founded the Bezalel School in Jerusalem. After Schatz died, part of his art collection, including a famous self portrait by Dutch Master Jozef Israëls, given to him by the artist, eventually became the nucleus of the Israel Museum. Biography Boris Schatz was born in Varniai, in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania). His father, a teacher in a ''cheder'' (a religious school), sent him to study in a yeshiva in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1883, while at the yeshiva, he enrolled at the Vilnius School of Drawing, where he was a student until June 1885. In 1887, he met the Jewish sculptor Mark Antokolsky, who was visiting his parents. He showed Antokolski a small figurine of a Jew in a prayer shawl he had carved from black stone. Antokolsky secured a stipend for ...
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Bishop Of Samogitia
Bishops of Samogitia, Samogitian diocese (now a part of Lithuania) from 1417 to 1926. The seat of the diocese was in Varniai/Medininkai until 1864, when it was moved to Kaunas. It was liquidated in 1926 by Pope Pius XI when the archdiocese of Kaunas was created. References * Błaszczyk, Grzegorz. Diecezja żmudzka od XV do początku XVII wieku : ustrój—Wyd. 1. – Poznań : Wydaw. Naukowe UAM, 1993. – 369 p, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. Seria Historia ; Nr. 180) ; ISSN 0554-8217 External links Lietuvos dailės muziejaus Žemaičių vyskupaiVarniai muziejaus Žemaičių vyskupai*{{in lang, lt}Varnių katedra Samogitia Bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ... History of Samogitia ...
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Motiejus Valančius
Motiejus Kazimieras Valančius ( pl, , also known by his pen-name ''Joteika'' and ''Ksiądz Maciek''; 1801–1875) was a Catholic Bishop of Samogitia, historian and one of the best known Lithuanian/Samogitian writers of the 19th century. Biography Motiejus Valančius was born February 28, 1801, into a well-to-do peasant family in village, Kretinga district. Early in his youth, he had his baptismal records altered to indicate noble birth; the family name was Polonized to ''Wołonczewski''. This practice, not uncommon among prosperous villagers, was a means of providing educational opportunities otherwise denied to peasant children. In 1816 he entered the Dominican school at Žemaičių Kalvarija and six years later began his studies at the Theological Seminary in Varniai. He transferred to the Vilnius Priest Seminary in 1824, from which he graduated in 1828. Ordained a priest that same year, he spent the next six years teaching religion in Belarus. In 1834 he returned to Lithu ...
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Samogitian Language
Samogitian ( sgs, žemaitiu kalba, link=no or sometimes ', ''žemaitiu šnekta'' or '; lt, žemaičių tarmė, žemaičių kalba) is an Eastern Baltic language spoken mostly in Samogitia (in the western part of Lithuania). In Lithuania, it is mostly treated as a dialect of Lithuanian, but it is also considered as a separate language by some linguists inside and outside of Lithuania. Its recognition as a distinct language is increasing in recent years, and attempts have been made to standardize it. The Samogitian language should not be confused with the interdialect of the Lithuanian language as spoken in the Duchy of Samogitia before Lithuanian became a written language, which later developed into one of the two variants of written Lithuanian used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania based on the so-called middle dialect of the Kėdainiai region. This was called the Samogitian (Žemaitian) language; the term "Lithuanian language" then referred to the other variant, which had bee ...
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Baptism Of Samogitia
The Christianization of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos krikštas) occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuania, the last pagan country in Europe. This event ended one of the most complicated and lengthiest processes of Christianization in European history. History Early contacts with Eastern Orthodox Christianity Lithuanians' contacts with the Christian religion predated the establishment of the Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century. The first known record of the name Lithuania (''Litua''), recorded in the Annals of Quedlinburg in 1009, relates to Chalcedonian missionaries led by Bruno of Querfurt, who baptised several rulers of the Yotvingians, a nearby Baltic tribe. However, Lithuanians had more active contacts with the Kievan Rus' and subsequent Eastern Slavic states, which had adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity follo ...
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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 alongside Lithuania proper. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai. Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian language. Etymology and alternative names Ruthenian sources mentioned the region as жемотьская земля, ''Žemot'skaja zemlja''; this gave rise to its Polish form, , and probably to the Middle High German . In Latin texts, the name is usually written as etc. The area has long been known to its residents and to other Lithuanians exclusively as Žemaitija (the name Samogitia is no longer in use within Lithuania and has not been used for at least two centuries); Žemaitija means "lowlands" in Lithuanian. The region is also ...
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Telšiai District Municipality
Telšiai District Municipality ( lt, Telšių rajono savivaldybė, Samogitian: ''Telšiū rajuona savivaldībė'') is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania, containing the city of Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua .... References Municipalities of Telšiai County Municipalities of Lithuania {{lithuania-geo-stub ...
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Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania shares land borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia to the southwest. It has a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Sweden to the west on the Baltic Sea. Lithuania covers an area of , with a population of 2.8 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian language, Lithuanian, one of only a few living Baltic languages. For millennia the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Balts, Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, Monarchy of Lithuania, becoming king and founding the Kingdom of Lithuania ...
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