Lentvaris is a city in eastern 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...

, 9 km east form Trakai

Trakai

Trakai is a historic city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 km west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. Trakai is the administrative centre of Trakai district municipality. The town covers 11.52 km2 of...

, an important center of transportation, because many roads and railroads cross here.
Lake Lentvaris is located near the city.

History

In the 18th Century, the town of Lentvaris, laid within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, . It was owned by the Lithuanian noble Sapieha family; and later by the Tyszkiewicz

Tyszkiewicz

The Tyszkiewicz family was a wealthy and influential magnate family of Ruthenian/Lithuanian nobility with roots traced into the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania...

 family (since 1850). Following the partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the town became a 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 the 19th century the Tyszkiewicz family had a Tudor-style palace built (in 1885), and founded a park, designed by Édouard André

Édouard André

Édouard François André was a French horticulturalist, landscape designer, as well as a leading landscape architect of the late 19th century, famous for designing city parks and public spaces of Monte Carlo and Montevideo....

. In 1869 a nail factory was established.

In the interwar period Lentvaris was held by Poland (since 1922). It was located within the Wilno Voivodeship

Wilno Voivodeship

The Wilno Voivodeship was one of Voivodeships in the Second Polish Republic, with the capital in Wilno. It was created in 1926 and populated predominantly by Poles with notable minorities of Belarusians, Jews, and Lithuanians....

, in the Wilno–Troki District of the Second Polish Republic

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

. In September 1939, Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 attacked Poland in unison with the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. The town was taken over on September 19, 1939. Polish soldiers, who fought in the September Campaign, were interned in the neighboring town of Kretinga by the Lithuanians. Between 1942 and 1943 a Jewish partisan unit headed by Abba Kovner

Abba Kovner

Abba Kovner was a Lithuanian Jewish Hebrew poet, writer, and partisan leader. He became one of the great poets of modern Israel. He was a cousin of the Israeli Communist Party leader Meir Vilner.-Biography:...

 operated in the vicinity and blew up a train near the Lentvaris station on the railroad from Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

 to Grodno. Twenty one cars carrying troops and supplies were derailed. The train had been on its way from Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 to Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

.

Famous people

Teresa Żylis-Gara

Teresa Zylis-Gara

Teresa Żylis-Gara is a Polish operatic soprano who had a major international career during the 1950s through the 1990s...

, the 20th century soprano singer was born in Lentvaris. In 2004 she founded a Pipe organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 in the Polish Roman-Catholic church pw. Zwiastowania NMP in the town.