Šventežeris (literally: ''

sacred lake Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. Th ...

'') is a small town in

Alytus County Alytus County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania, counties in Lithuania. It is the southernmost county, and its Capital (political), capital is the city of Alytus. Its territory lies within the Regions of Lithuania, ethnographic region of Dz� ...

in southern

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 ...

. As of 2011, it had a population of 295. It is situated some east of

Lazdijai Lazdijai () is a city ('' miestas'') in Lithuania located about east of the border with Poland. History It was established by Sigismund II Augustus in 1570 and granted Magdeburg Rights by Sigismund III Vasa in 1587. During World War II, Lazdija ...

on the banks of Lake Šventežeris. The town traces its history to

Jerzy Radziwiłł Jerzy Radziwiłł (; 1480 – April 1541), nicknamed "Herkules", was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman. He was Deputy Cup-Bearer of Lithuania from 1510, voivode of Kiev Voivodeship from 1510, Field Hetman of Lithuania in 1521, castellan of ...

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

Trakai Trakai (; see Trakai#Names and etymology, names section for alternative and historic names) is a city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania or just from the administrative limits of the Lithuanian capi ...

, who distributed land to his serfs. His heirs built a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

church in 1598 and turned the town into a parish seat.

Samuel Bogusław Chyliński Samuel Bogusław Chyliński () (1631–1668) was the translator and publisher of the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian. Life Samuel Bogusław Chyliński born in Šventežeris to a family of a Calvinist preacher Adrian Chyliński ...

(1631–1668), son of a Protestant priest and first translator of the Bible into the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

whose translation was put to print, was born in the town. According to inventory of 1650, Šventežeris had a market square and 78 resident families. However, it suffered during the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

(1655–1661) and the population dropped to 47 families in 1663. Šventežeris never recovered and became a village. In 1663, the Protestant church was taken over by the Catholics. In 1746, a new church was built, but it burned down in 1863. The new church, built in 1882, survives to this day. It has a Neoclassical exterior and

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

altars. The

Radziwiłł family The House of Radziwiłł (; ; ; ) is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian origin, and one of the most powerful magnate families originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Pa ...

lost possession of the town in 1783. The population grew somewhat in the 1920s when the former estate was divided and sold out to the peasants. The town had 325 residents in 1886, 417 in 1923, 547 in 1959, and 478 in 1978.

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Alytus County {{AlytusCounty-geo-stub