Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest cities in

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 ...

. It is located north of

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 ...

on the banks of the

Nevėžis River The Nevėžis () is the sixth longest river in Lithuania and one of the main tributaries of the Nemunas. Its length is , and it flows only within the geographical confines of Lithuania.Livonian Chronicle of

Hermann de Wartberge Hermann von Wartberge (died ca. 1380) was a chronicler of the Livonian Order. Born in Westphalia, Wartberge was a Catholic priest and author of the valuable Latin chronicle ''Chronicon Livoniale'' covering the history of the Livonian Crusade from ...

, its population is 23,667. Its old town dates to the 17th century. The city is the administrative centre of the Kėdainiai District Municipality. The geographical centre of the Lithuanian Republic is in the nearby village of Ruoščiai, located in the eldership of Dotnuva.

Names

The city has been known by other names: ''Kiejdany'' in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, ''Keidan'' (קיידאן) in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

, and ''Kedahnen'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. Kėdainiai other alternate forms include Kidan, Kaidan, Keidany, Keydan, Kiedamjzeÿ ("j" /e/), Kuidany, and Kidainiai.

History

The area was the site of several battles during "The Deluge", the 17th century war between the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

and Sweden. In 1655 a short-lived treaty with Sweden, the

Union of Kėdainiai The Union of Kėdainiai (or Agreement of Kėdainiai, Lithuanian: ''Kėdainių unija'', Polish: ''Umowa Kiejdańska'') was an agreement between several magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ...

, was signed by two members of Radziwiłł family in their Kėdainiai castle. While little remains of the Radziwiłł castle, the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

of the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

church (1631) houses the family mausoleum, including the

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

s of Krzysztof Radziwiłł and his son

Janusz Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter *Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pr ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

arrived in the late 16th and 17th centuries, encouraged by the conversion of Anna Radziwill; the community exerted considerable influence in the city and persisted until the mid-19th century. The grouping of the buildings around the town square still include the imposing homes of merchants known as the "Scottish Houses". These include; the George Anderson House, the John Arnot House, the George Bennet House, the James Gray House, the Steel Property, and the surviving basement of the Alexander Gordon house. A local custom called on all visitors to bring a stone to be used in the town's construction.

World War II

During

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, Kėdainiai was occupied by the German Army in the summer of 1941. On August 28, 1941, the entire Jewish community of Kėdainiai, a community which had inhabited the area for 500 years, were killed under the direction of German Special Police Battalions, with the aid of the local Lithuanian population. The Jewish population prior to the Holocaust was 3000.

Soviet period

During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

it was home to Kėdainiai air base, a major Soviet military airlift facility. For many years, Kėdainiai was known for its chemical and food processing industries. The Kėdainiai chemical plant, Lifosa began operations in January 1963. Publicized as a milestone in the industrialization of Lithuania, it emitted significant quantities of

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

and was the subject of ecological protests in the 1980s.

Independent Lithuania

Following years of stagnation, old enterprises have come back to life, and new ones have been established, contributing to its status as an economic stronghold.

Demographics

Transportation

Kėdainiai is accessed by

Via Baltica European route E 67 is an E-road running from Prague in the Czech Republic to Estonia and by ferry to Finland. It goes via Prague, Wrocław, Warsaw, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki. The route is known as the Via Baltica ...

highway from

and Panevėžys, and by rail from

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 ...

, Klaipėda and Šiauliai. It is also served by

Kaunas International Airport Kaunas Fluxus Airport ( lt, Kauno tarptautinis oro uostas), is the second-busiest civil airport in Lithuania after Vilnius Airport and the fourth-busiest in the Baltic states. The airport is located in the central part of the country, northea ...

, the second largest airport in Lithuania, located in Karmėlava site.

Cultural activities

The Kėdainiai Regional Museum, established in 1922, now operates four branches: a Multicultural Centre, the Mausoleum of the Dukes Radziwill, the House of

Juozas Paukštelis Juozas Paukštelis born Juozas Ptašinskas (2 March 1899, Titoniai, Kovno Governorate – 20 July 1981) was a Lithuanian author and translator. His works have been translated into Russian, Polish, and Kazakh. After receiving a degree from Kaunas ...

, and the Museum of Wooden Sculptures of V.Ulevičius. Since the city is known as the

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

capital of Lithuania, it sponsors an annual cucumber festival. In 2013, the band Bastille shot a music video for their single " Things We Lost in the Fire" in the location. A small Polish minority of 329 (0,61%) people live in Kėdainiai district municipality, but only 30 people participate in ''Stowarzyszenie Polaków Kiejdan'' (The Kėdainiai Polish Association), the elder people; their cultural activities involve public celebrations of Polish Day of Independence and Day of the Constitution of Third of May, as well as organizing a festival of Polish culture. Since 1994 a School of Polish Language exists.

Education

* Jonušas Radvila College (''Kėdainių Jonušo Radvilos studijų centras'') *

Kėdainiai Atžalynas gymnasium Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population is 23, ...

Kėdainiai Šviesioji gymnasium Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population is 23, ...

Sport

Basketball club

BC Nevėžis BC Nevėžis ( lt, Krepšinio klubas Nevėžis), commonly known as Nevėžis Kėdainiai, also known as Nevėžis-OPTIBET due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Kėdainiai, Lithuania. The club currently competes in ...

, which participate in Lithuanian basketball league. Football club FK Nevėžis, named after the nearby river plays in second-tier league I Lyga. Other football teams include FK Lifosa and FK Nevėžis-2, the reserve team of Nevėžis.

Mayors of Kėdainiai

Notable citizens

* Jonušas Radvila (1612–1655) - Lithuanian nobleman, magnate * Antanas Mackevičius, a priest and a leader of the

1863 uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation ...

, Polish writer, Nobel Prize winner. Born in

Šeteniai Šeteniai (''Šateiniai'', formerly russian: Шатейни, pl, Szetejnie, Józefów) is a village in the Kėdainiai District Municipality, Kėdainiai district municipality, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, the village had a population ...

village * Mikalojus Daukša, Lithuanian writer, translator * Martin (Moshe) Kagan, a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance group

HaShomer HaTzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

* Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, rabbi and prolific author *

Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan Avrohom Eliyahu (Elya) Kaplan ( he, אברהם אליהו קפלן; 1890–1924) was a prominent Orthodox rabbi. He was born in Kėdainiai, a town in the Kaunas County in Lithuania. He was born an orphan, and named Avrohom Elya for his deceased ...

(1890-1924), prominent Orthodox rabbi. *

Moshe Leib Lilienblum Moshe Leib Lilienblum ( yi, משה לייב לילינבלום; October 22, 1843 in Keidany, Kovno Governorate – February 12, 1910 in Odessa) was a Jewish scholar and author. He also used the pseudonym Zelaphchad Bar-Chuschim ( he, צלפח ...

, Jewish scholar and author *

Viktoras Muntianas Viktoras Muntianas (born 11 November 1951 in Marijampolė, Lithuanian SSR) is a Lithuanian politician of Moldovan descent and former Speaker of the Seimas. In 1968 he graduated from the high school in Marijampolė. In 1973 he enrolled in the Vi ...

, Lithuanian politician, former Speaker of the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

, author *

Juozas Urbšys Juozas Urbšys (29 February 1896 – 30 April 1991) was a prominent interwar Lithuanian diplomat, the last head of foreign affairs in independent interwar Lithuania,Gerhard L. Weinberg. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. 1994 p.94 ...

, Lithuanian diplomat. Born in

village * Shlomo Zalman Zoref, re-established the

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

community in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1811 *

Bernard G Richards Bernard Gerson Richards (BGR) (b. March 9, 1877 ''Dov-Gershon Rabinovich'' in Keidan, Lithuania – d. June 25, 1971), was a Jewish author and a leader. His career spanned over 50 years. When he came to the United States (1886), he furthered h ...

(b. March 9, 1877 Dov-Gershon Rabinovich in Keidan, Lithuania - d. 25 June 1971 in the US) author and Jewish leader.

Twin towns – sister cities

Kėdainiai is twinned with: * Brodnica, Poland * Fălticeni, Romania *

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve is a city and municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of various petrochemical products ...

, Estonia *

Łobez Łobez (german: Labes) is a town on the river Rega in northwestern Poland, within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łobez County, and has a population of 10,066 (2019). The name The name Łobez comes from the Old Polish ...

, Poland *

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Zaporizhz ...

, Ukraine *

Sömmerda Sömmerda is a town near Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, on the Unstrut river. It is the capital of the Sömmerda (district), district of Sömmerda. History Archeological digs in the area that is now Sömmerda, formerly Leubingen, have uncovered ...

, Germany *

Svalöv Svalöv () is a locality and the seat of Svalöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 3,633 inhabitants in 2010. It is around north of Malmö. Sports The following sports clubs are located in Svalöv: * Svalövs BK Division 4 is the si ...

, Sweden *

Telavi Telavi ( ka, თელავი ) is the main city and administrative center of Georgia's eastern province of Kakheti. Its population consists of some 19,629 inhabitants (as of the year 2014). The city is located on the foothills of the Tsiv-Gombo ...

, Georgia The city was previously twinned with: * Rostov, Russia * Vawkavysk, Belarus *

Zelenogradsk Zelenogradsk (; german: Cranz; pl, Koronowo; Lithuanian and Old Prussian: ''Krantas'') is a town and the administrative center of Zelenogradsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located north of Kaliningrad, on the Sambian coastline near ...

, Russia

Gallery

Kiejdany wooden church.jpg,

St. Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

's church of

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

Kiejdany_StGeorge_church.jpg,

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

's church, 15th century Kedainiai7. 2007-05-06.jpg, City Hall and Monument of Radziwiłł The old-town of Kėdainiai001.jpg, Kranto II street in the old town Kedainiai5 2007-05-06.jpg, Evangelical church Senoji street Kedainiai.JPG, Senoji street in old town Kėdainiai (Kiejdany) - market square (2).JPG, Kėdainiai market square Kedainiai15. 2007-05-06.jpg, Kėdainiai old town Kedainiai14. 2007-05-06.jpg, Didžioji street Nevezis009.JPG, Nevėžis river in city center Kėdainiai (Kiejdany) - new synagogue.JPG, Kėdainiai new synagogue Kiejdany orthodox church.jpg, Holy Transfiguration Church

References

*
kedainiai.lt

- Kėdainiai tourist and business information center

Article on Kedainiai's Jewish community

JRK Center
College of Janusz Radziwiłł ;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Kedainiai Cities in Kaunas County Cities in Lithuania Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania Kovensky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Lithuania