Ažytėnai (formerly , ) is a village in

Kėdainiai district municipality Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Lithuania's second largest city Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. Kėdainiai were first mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle ...

, in

Kaunas County Kaunas County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its Capital (political), capital is Kaunas. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. Symbols The county's coat of arms can be blazoned ...

, in central

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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, the village had a population of 239 people. It is located from

Krakės Krakės (formerly ''Krakiai'' ) is a small town in Kėdainiai district, central Lithuania. It is located on the Smilgaitis River. In the town, there are the Catholic church of St. Matthew the Evangelist (built in 1907), Mikalojus Katkus gymnasi ...

, by the

Ažytė The Ažytė is a river of Raseiniai district municipality and Kėdainiai district municipality, central Lithuania. It is a right-bank tributary of the Šušvė Šušvė () is a river in central Lithuania, a right (the longest) tributary of the Ne ...

river and its tributary Ažytėlė. There are library, school, medicine station, agriculture cooperative. Ažytėnai is famous for being a living place of Lithuanian writer, agronomist Mikalojus Katkus (1852–1944). His house now is a memorial museum.

History

On 1 April 1863 a big battle of the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

occurred between Ažytėnai and Lenčiai villages. About 600 insurgents, led by Bolesław Kajetan Kolyszko,

Bolesław Roman Dłuski Bolesław Roman Dłuski, alias ''Jabłonowski'' ( or ''Balys Dluskis''; 19 August 1826 – 10 May 1905) was a Lithuanian physician, painter and military officer, leader of the January Uprising in Samogitia. Early life He spent his childhood in th ...

and K. Ciszkewicz had confronted Russian imperial army. In 1910 the first school was opened in Ažytėnai. During the Soviet era, Ažytėnai was a ''

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

'' center and between 1950 and 1963 a ''

selsovet A selsoviet (; , ; ) is the shortened name for Selsky soviet, i.e., rural council (; ; ). It has three closely related meanings: *The administration (''soviet'') of a certain rural area. *The territorial subdivision administered by such a council ...

'' center.

Demography

Images

Ažytėnai 1.JPG, Mikalojus Katkus house Ažytėnai 2.JPG, A barn in the Mikalojus Katkus homestead Ažytėnai, sodyba.JPG, Traditional house in Ažytėnai Ažytėnai, kryžius.JPG, Village cross

References

Villages in Kaunas County Kėdainiai District Municipality {{KaunasCounty-geo-stub