Kretinga
Encyclopedia
Kretinga is a city in the Klaipėda County
, Lithuania
. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality
. It is located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga
, and about 25 km (15.5 mi) north of Lithuania's 3rd largest city and principal seaport, Klaipėda
.
The population was listed as 21,423 in the 2001 census. It is the 6th largest city in the ethnographic region of Samogitia
and the 18th largest city in Lithuania.
Kretinga is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. The first time it mentioned in 1253 as a castle Cretyn in the charter of bishop Heinrich of Courland
.
In 1602 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
built the first wooden church in Kretinga and established a Benedictine monastery, which became a great success. After about ten years a new brick church with an impressive organ
was built. In 1610 a church school was opened.
In 1609 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz announced that he would establish a new city next to the old village and would grant the new city Magdeburg rights
. The new city adopted a coat of arms
showing the Blessed Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms. Kretinga's patron saint remains the Blessed Virgin. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst01957.htm
In 1621 the Sapieha
family gained control of the city; they changed its coat of arms to represent Saint Casimir
. In 1659 and 1710 the church and monastery were destroyed by Swedish armies. The Sapieha family helped to rebuild and improve it.
In 1720 the city came under the jurisdiction of the Massalski family. Ignacy Jakub Massalski
opened a university preparatory school
in 1774. The city lost its municipal rights after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
.
The city prospered during the 19th century as part of the Russian Empire
. In 1882 the first telephone line in Lithuania connected Kretinga with Plungė
and Rietavas
. In 1875, Count Tiškevičius decided to establish his family estate in Kretinga; he purchased and rebuilt an old palace. Following the fashions of the Victorian era, the family landscaped it lavishly and built a greenhouse featuring exotic flowering plants and tropical fruits. In 1890 they installed electricity in the manor.
During World War I
, the Germans built a railroad connecting Bajorai, Kretinga, and the Latvian city of Priekule
. In 1924 Kretinga regained its municipal rights. During the interwar period
, the village of Kretingsodis, on the other side of the Akmena River, was incorporated into the city. Kretinga gained greater importance after another railroad was built in 1932 that connected it to Šiauliai
.
During the first Soviet occupation, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, a reign of terror resulted in local residents being arrested and, in some cases, executed without trial or deported to Siberia
. A local lawyer, Vladas Petronaitis
, was arrested and ultimately tortured to death by the Soviet intelligence agency.
The World War II
Nazi occupation saw the elimination of Kretinga's Jewish population as they were faced with death or deportation. The Soviet occupation in 1945 led to further reductions in the population as refugees fled to the west and many of those trapped were deported to Siberia.
The local economy stagnated under the Soviet occupation, which forcibly collectivized
the farms in the area; it became an economic backwater.
Since Lithuania's independence in 1990, the town has made a recovery - it has much to offer by way of history and art. Kretinga hosts folk music festivals, theatricals, the Kretinga Festival, celebrations on Midsummer Night's Eve (Joninės) and Mardi Gras (Užgavėnės
), and a Manorial Feast. The manor is now a museum
housing artistic and archeological collections and a restaurant in the adjacent greenhouse, called "The Winter Garden". A Cambrian
geothermal reservoir underlies the area, and the Vydmantai powerplant exploiting this resource is being built nearby.
Klaipeda County
Klaipėda County is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It lies in the west of the country and is the only county to have a coastline. Its capital is Klaipėda...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality
Kretinga district municipality
Kretinga district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania....
. It is located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga
Palanga
Palanga and beautiful sand dunes. Officially Palanga has the status of a city municipality and includes Šventoji, Nemirseta, Būtingė and other settlements, which are considered as part of the city of Palanga.-Legend:...
, and about 25 km (15.5 mi) north of Lithuania's 3rd largest city and principal seaport, Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
.
The population was listed as 21,423 in the 2001 census. It is the 6th largest city in the ethnographic region of Samogitia
Samogitia
Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...
and the 18th largest city in Lithuania.
History
Courland
Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...
.
In 1602 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a famous Lithuanian military commander and one of the most prominent noblemen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Biography:...
built the first wooden church in Kretinga and established a Benedictine monastery, which became a great success. After about ten years a new brick church with an impressive organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
was built. In 1610 a church school was opened.
In 1609 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz announced that he would establish a new city next to the old village and would grant the new city Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
. The new city adopted a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
showing the Blessed Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms. Kretinga's patron saint remains the Blessed Virgin. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/pst01957.htm
In 1621 the Sapieha
Sapieha
The Sapieha is a Polish-Lithuanian princely family descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk. The family acquired great influence in the sixteenth century.-History:...
family gained control of the city; they changed its coat of arms to represent Saint Casimir
Saint Casimir
Saint Casimir Jagiellon was a royal prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who became a patron saint of Lithuania, Poland, and the young.-Biography:...
. In 1659 and 1710 the church and monastery were destroyed by Swedish armies. The Sapieha family helped to rebuild and improve it.
In 1720 the city came under the jurisdiction of the Massalski family. Ignacy Jakub Massalski
Ignacy Jakub Massalski
Prince Ignacy Massalski was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman.Ignacy was Bishop of Vilnius and one of the initiators of the Commission for National Education. After few years he was removed from the Commission for embezzlement of public funds...
opened a university preparatory school
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in 1774. The city lost its municipal rights after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
.
The city prospered during the 19th century as part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. In 1882 the first telephone line in Lithuania connected Kretinga with Plungė
Plunge
Plungė is a city in Lithuania with 23,246 inhabitants. It has a crab stick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.Before World War II, Plunge had a large Jewish population.- History :...
and Rietavas
Rietavas
Rietavas is a city in Lithuania on the Jūra River. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,979. It is the capital of Rietavas municipality.The city is famous for building the first power station to produce electricity in Lithuania in 1892...
. In 1875, Count Tiškevičius decided to establish his family estate in Kretinga; he purchased and rebuilt an old palace. Following the fashions of the Victorian era, the family landscaped it lavishly and built a greenhouse featuring exotic flowering plants and tropical fruits. In 1890 they installed electricity in the manor.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Germans built a railroad connecting Bajorai, Kretinga, and the Latvian city of Priekule
Priekule
Priekule is a town in southwestern Latvia.-History:Priekule is first mentioned as a fortified manor in 1483 but only began to grow as a town after 1871 when the Liepaja - Vilnius railway was built through Priekule. It was granted town rights in 1928 by the Latvian government.-References:...
. In 1924 Kretinga regained its municipal rights. During the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
, the village of Kretingsodis, on the other side of the Akmena River, was incorporated into the city. Kretinga gained greater importance after another railroad was built in 1932 that connected it to Šiauliai
Šiauliai
Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...
.
During the first Soviet occupation, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, a reign of terror resulted in local residents being arrested and, in some cases, executed without trial or deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. A local lawyer, Vladas Petronaitis
Vladas Petronaitis
Vladas Petronaitis , was a Lithuanian patriot, soldier and martyr. He was tortured and killed during the infamous Rainiai massacre by members of the NKVD, and the Red Army.- Early life and education :...
, was arrested and ultimately tortured to death by the Soviet intelligence agency.
The World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Nazi occupation saw the elimination of Kretinga's Jewish population as they were faced with death or deportation. The Soviet occupation in 1945 led to further reductions in the population as refugees fled to the west and many of those trapped were deported to Siberia.
The local economy stagnated under the Soviet occupation, which forcibly collectivized
Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
the farms in the area; it became an economic backwater.
Since Lithuania's independence in 1990, the town has made a recovery - it has much to offer by way of history and art. Kretinga hosts folk music festivals, theatricals, the Kretinga Festival, celebrations on Midsummer Night's Eve (Joninės) and Mardi Gras (Užgavėnės
Užgavenes
Užgavėnės is a Lithuanian festival that takes place during the seventh week before Easter . Its name in English means "the time before Lent"...
), and a Manorial Feast. The manor is now a museum
Kretinga Museum
The Kretinga Museum , also known as Kretinga Manor, is located near the Baltic Sea in Kretinga, Lithuania. Originally a private estate, it was converted to a museum in 1992, and now contains a number of archeological finds, fine and applied art collections, folk art, and ethnographic exhibits, as...
housing artistic and archeological collections and a restaurant in the adjacent greenhouse, called "The Winter Garden". A Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
geothermal reservoir underlies the area, and the Vydmantai powerplant exploiting this resource is being built nearby.
Famous people
- Vladas PetronaitisVladas PetronaitisVladas Petronaitis , was a Lithuanian patriot, soldier and martyr. He was tortured and killed during the infamous Rainiai massacre by members of the NKVD, and the Red Army.- Early life and education :...
, recipient of the Lithuanian Independence Medal; he was executed during the first Soviet occupation - Simonas DaukantasSimonas DaukantasSimonas Daukantas or Szymon Dowkont was a Lithuanian writer, ethnographer and historian. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian national revival, he is credited as an author of the first book on the history of Lithuania written in the Lithuanian language...
, author of the first history of Lithuania written in Lithuanian, briefly studied in Kretinga - Rimvydas Šilbajoris http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0512a&L=seelangs&P=3135, linguist, author, and professor at Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversityThe Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
- Linas PilibaitisLinas PilibaitisLinas Pilibaitis is a Lithuanian professional footballer playing for Győri ETO FC.- Career :Pilibaitis joined Kaunas aged 17 in 2002, gradually working his way into the first team as he developed in the following years. This process was aided by a loan spell at Klaipėda side FK Atlantas in 2004,...
, LithuanianLithuania national football teamThe national football team of Lithuania is under the auspices of the Lithuanian Football Federation. It played its first match in 1923. In 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union; the country regained its independence in 1990 and played their first match as a new nation against Georgia on...
international footballerFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, was born in Kretinga.