The House of Perkūnas is one of the most original and Gothic secular buildings, located in the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

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 ...

. Originally built by Hanseatic merchants and served as their office from 1440 until 1532, it was sold in the 16th century to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

who had established a chapel there in 1643. The Jesuits have also completed the Church of St. Francis Xavier at the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

Square in 1722. The ruined house was rebuilt in the 19th century and served as a school and theatre, which was attended by Polish poet

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

. At the end of the 19th century it was renamed the "House of Perkūnas", when a figure, interpreted by the romantic historians of that time as an idol of the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

pagan god of thunder and the sky

Perkūnas Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...

was found in one of its walls. Today, the house of Perkūnas once again belongs to the Jesuits and houses a museum of Adam Mickiewicz. Lithuanian historian, theologian and translator Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz was born in the house. The House of Perkūnas was included into the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Republic of Lithuania in 1996.
The Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites: Unique object code: 816. Retrieved on 2 August 2011.

References

*
History of Perkūnas' House

Sources

* Brick Gothic Buildings and structures in Kaunas Gothic architecture in Lithuania Tourist attractions in Kaunas Objects listed in Lithuanian Registry of Cultural Property Kaunas Old Town {{Lithuania-struct-stub

See also

References

Sources