Babėnai (formerly , ) is a northern part of the

Kėdainiai 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 ...

city, located 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 ...

. It is between the

Nevėžis The Nevėžis (; ) is the List of rivers of Lithuania, sixth longest river in Lithuania and one of the main tributaries of the Neman (river), Nemunas. The long Nevėžis flows entirely within Lithuania.Dotnuvėlė The Dotnuvėlė is a river of Kėdainiai district municipality and Radviliškis district municipality, Kaunas County, central Lithuania. It flows for 60.9 kilometres and has a basin area of 192.7 km2. Its valley is 350–500 m wide. The curr ...

rivers, by the road to

Krekenava Krekenava is a town (population 1,375) in Panevėžys district municipality in northern Lithuania, on the bank of Nevėžis. Etymology In the past, the town's place name had a different root than it does now: ''krakin-'' or ''krokin-''. In the ...

and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

railway. There are Babėnai park and pond, oil repository, old cemetery, Holocaust place and the old Daukša oak tree.

History

Babėnai (as ''Babyne'') is mentioned the first time in the

Hermann von 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 ...

chronicle. At the 16th century Babėnai parcel was mentioned as an estate of Daukša family. At the 19th century Babėnai was an ''

okolica In Poland and Lithuania okolica szlachecka or akalica, bajorkaimis (in Lithuanian) is a kind of estate village (''neighbourhood of the nobility''), or a complex of several villages of the same first part of the name and different second part. In the ...

'', an estate of the Dapkevičiai and Petruševičiai. Around 1923, most of Babėnai was merged to Kėdainiai. It was a resort area during Interwar period. A small part of Babėnai still was a village (till 1954 as a center of ''selsovet'') but during Soviet era whole Babėnai became a part of Kėdainiai. From 1959, it was connected with a bus Line 1 to Kėdainiai.

Notable people

Babėnai is a home place of famous Lithuanian writer, priest, educator

Mikalojus Daukša Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – 16 February 1613 in Varniai, Medininkai) was a Lithuanian language, Lithuanian and Latin language, Latin religious writer, transla ...

(born between 1527 and 1538).

References

Kėdainiai {{KaunasCounty-geo-stub