Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary was a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Veiveriai Veiveriai is a town in Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, its population was 1,167. It is located about southwest of Kaunas on the road to Marijampolė. History The town was first mentioned in written sources in 1744, but began growing a ...

Suwałki Governorate Suwałki Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of Congress Poland of the Russian Empire, which had its seat in the city of Suwałki. It covered a territory of about . History In 1867, the territories of the Augustów ...

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

(now

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 was established as teachers' courses in 1866 and reorganized into a seminary in 1872. It prepared teachers for elementary schools in the Suwałki Governorate. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the seminary was evacuated into Russia and subsequently disbanded. During its existence, the seminary prepared 1,025 teachers, some of which later became prominent figures in Lithuanian education, politics, and culture.

Background

After the

Uprising of 1863 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 in ...

, Tsarist authorities closed all institutions of higher education in Lithuania and implemented a radical

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

program. According to this program, Lithuanian schools would be closed or replaced with Russian schools. To prepare teachers for these new Russian schools, two teachers' seminaries were established: one in Veiveriai for the Suwałki Governorate and another in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

for the

Vilna 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 ...

and

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kovno (Kaunas). It was formed on 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas I from the western part of Vilna Govern ...

s. The Veiveriai Seminary was open only to Catholics of Lithuanian origin, while the seminary in Panevėžys was open only to

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

s. It was hoped that these Lithuanian teachers prepared in Russian spirit would work in Polish provinces and would turn their students away from Polish language and culture.

History

Veiveriai Seminary was established in two-story brick post office building, left empty since the office closed after the

Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greate ...

was opened. The seminary was a three-year school, that accepted 30 students annually. Therefore, it had about 90 students at any given time. The curriculum was taught in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

and included religion, pedagogy, Lithuanian and Russian languages, history, mathematics, biology and geography,

cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

, music, etc. Students also had to complete a certain number of hours in the seminary's gardens growing fruits and vegetables. The seminary also boasted a choir and an orchestra. After graduation students would be assigned work in Polish provinces; those who received scholarships had to complete at least 4 years at the designated location. Despite strict prohibitions on speaking in Lithuanian and hopes that the seminary would become a center of Russification, Veiveriai became an important center of the

Lithuanian National Revival The Lithuanian National Revival, alternatively the Lithuanian National Awakening or Lithuanian nationalism (), was a period of the history of Lithuania in the 19th century, when a major part of Lithuanian-inhabited areas belonged to the Russian ...

. Tomas Ferdinandas Žilinskas, who helped to found the seminary and worked there for 37 years, was one of the activists in the revival movement. Despite official rules, Žilinskas encouraged his students to read banned Lithuanian books and speak in Lithuanian. Other students took part in illegal book smuggling, hiding the books under the altar of a cemetery chapel. Starting in 1881 students even published 10 issues of a Lithuanian-language monthly ''Laimės valandos'' (Hours of Happiness). During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, students demanded to change the subject language from Russian to Lithuanian. The seminary was temporarily closed and 37 students were arrested; the teaching language policy was not changed, but it was allowed to speak Lithuanian in public. In 1915, during World War I, the seminary was evacuated into Russia, but never returned. Its last class graduated on March 1, 1918. Its former building was used to establish a secondary school, which was named after Žilinskas. The school operates to this day.

Alumni

Mykolas Krupavičius Mykolas Krupavičius (1 October 1885, Balbieriškis, Lithuania – 4 December 1970, Chicago, U.S.) was a Lithuanian priest and politician. He is best known for his involvement with the land reform in the interwar Lithuania. In 1900 Krupavičiu ...

, Minister of Agriculture * Kazys Skučas, Minister of the Internal Affairs *

Antanas Žmuidzinavičius Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (, 31 October 1876 – 9 August 1966) was a Lithuanian painter and art collector. Educated at the Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary, Žmuidzinavičius worked as a teacher while pursuing art education in the evenings in Warsa ...

, painter

References

{{authority control History of Lithuania (1795–1918) Seminaries and theological colleges in Lithuania Educational institutions disestablished in 1918 Universities and colleges established in 1866 1866 establishments in the Russian Empire History of education in Lithuania 1918 disestablishments in Russia