Šešuoliai ( pl, Szeszole) is a small town in central Lithuania. It is located just east of the Lake Šešuoliai. According to the Lithuanian census of 2011, it had 138 residents. The town's central square and street layout is protected as an urban monument. Its alternate names include Šašuoliai, Šešuolių, Shesholi, Sheshuolyay, Sušuoliai, Szeszole, and Szeszole.

History

The town was first mentioned in the Chronicle of Hermann von Wartberge when it was attacked by the Livonian Order in 1334. Since the times of Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

, there was an estate, which became a property of

Kristinas Astikas Kristinas Astikas (1363 in Trakai – 1442 or 1444) was a leading Lithuanian noble and statesman of the Astikai family. Kristinas was a supporter and a companion of Vytautas the Great, his brother Sigismund Kestutaitis and nephew Casimir Jagie ...

. Sometime before 1478, Šešuoliai passed to the

Bishop of Vilnius Bishops of Vilnius (Vilna, Wilna, Wilno) diocese from 1388 and archdiocese (archdiocese of Vilnius) from 1925:

. Bishop

Walerian Protasewicz Walerian Protasewicz (also: Protaszewicz-Szuszkowski, lt, Valerijonas Protasevičius; – 31 December 1579 in Vilnius) was bishop of Lutsk (1549–1555) and Vilnius (1555–1579). Born to a family of petty Ruthenian nobles (''szlachta''), Prot ...

sponsored construction of a Catholic church and establishment of a parish. Protasewicz also directed the priests to open a

parish school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

, but it is known only from 1777. The settlement grew into a town and center of a

volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...

. The town burned down in 1656 during the

Russo-Polish War Armed conflicts between Poland (including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and Russia (including the Soviet Union) include: Originally a Polish civil war that Russia, among others, became involved in. Originally a Hungarian revolution ...

. Šešuoliai recovered; the church was reconstructed in 1698 and 1751. The priests sponsored a parish school and a shelter for the poor. Šešuoliai Manor had a library and alcohol distillery. During the interwar years it was briefly owned by Jonas Variakojis. Today it is a school building. The town had 100 residents in 1814, 64 in 1845, 169 in 1890, 317 in 1923, 156 in 1959, 193 in 1970, 123 in 1979. In the summer of 1941, a number of Jews from the town were marched to -they were told Želva. They were murdered by local Lithuanian collaborators on the outskirts of the forest as soon as they left the

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sesuoliai Towns in Vilnius County Towns in Lithuania Vilnius Voivodeship Holocaust locations in Lithuania Ukmergė District Municipality