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 some south from
Panevėžys
Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...
on the banks of the Upytė River, a tributary to the
Teutonic Knight
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 on ...
attack. Sometime before 1500 the first church was built and in 1503 the name "Ramygala" was used to refer to a town. Since then Ramygala slowly grew. Few years later it had a manor, and at the end of the 16th century it received a privilege to host fairs. Unlike many other towns in Lithuania, Ramygala did not belong to a noble family but rather to
Vilnius Cathedral
The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius ( lt, Vilniaus Šv. Stanislovo ir Šv. Vladislovo arkikatedra bazilika; pl, Bazylika archikatedralna św. Stanisława Biskupa i św. Władysława, historical: ''Kościół Kated ...
and later to
Vilnius University
Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...
.
In 1781 the town established a parish school next to a new church after the old one was destroyed by fire. The school grew and expanded significantly in the 20th century. It built two new school buildings and a dorm. In 2005 it was named Ramygala Gymnasium. The school hosts a small museum dedicated to the local history and traditions. A new
Neo Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
church was built in 1897–1914. It has 3 aisles and 3
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
s. It features only one bell tower. The tower was damaged during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but was rebuilt in the 1950s.
Administration
Since the second half of the 18th century, Ramygala was administrative center of a valsčius. After the administrative reform by the Soviet authorities in 1950, the town became a capital of a
raion
A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...
(Lithuanian: ''rajonas''). In 1962 Ramygala lost the status of the capital of a raion. Now it is a center of an eldership, the smallest administrative division in Lithuania. It has a small hospital and a library.
Famous people
*The
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cathol ...
Mother Maria Kaupas (1880-1940), nun and founder of the
Sisters of Saint Casimir
The Sisters of Saint Casimir are a Roman Catholic religious community of women founded in 1907 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Mother Maria Kaupas. It is dedicated to Saint Casimir, patron saint of Lithuania.
Description
Mother Maria, a native of L ...
Saulius Mykolaitis
Saulius Mykolaitis (January 15, 1966 – February 18, 2006) was a Lithuanian director, actor, and singer-songwriter ( bard).
Life
Saulius Mykolaitis was born in Ramygala, a small town in Lithuania. His parents died while he was still studying ...