Klaipeda in Lithuania
Harbour of Klaipeda - Lithuania
Klaipeda in Lithuania
Although it is the third city of Lithuania in terms of size and population, few would argue that Klaipeda is in many ways its second. Home over the colourful and turbulent centuries to the Curonians, Germans, Livonians and Lietuvininkai to name but a few past residents, like any contemporary Lithuanian conurbation Klaipėda (or Memel in earlier days) comes with its own fiendishly complicated ethnic and cultural heritage, a fact that makes it the intriguing and at times immensely enjoyable city that it is.
Blown to pieces as the curtains closed on World War II, today’s Klaipėda is a curious amalgam of the Soviet mindset spiced up with a splash of German history and a modicum of shiver-me-timbers 21st-century playfulness. Taken on its own, the Baltics States’ only ice-free port would be of moderate interest to visitors if it wasn’t for its location mid-way between the resorts of Nida and Palanga. Together, the three destinations make up a sort of Baltic Riviera, providing a tempting variation of things to see and do from the scientific gravity of the Klaipėda Timepiece Museum to the slap and tickle sensuality of Palanga.
Klaipeda has a population of 185.936 (2007).
History of Klaipeda
The only seaport city of Lithuania grew from a settlement which formed around a fortress called Memelburg built by the Livonian Order at the mouth of the river Dane in 1252. Its Lithuanian name, Klaipeda, is first mentioned in 1413; the Treaty of Mölln (1422) gave the fortress and settlement, along with other Lithuanian territories on the right bank of the Lower Nemunas, to the Teutonic Order. To this day German writings frequently refers to Klaipeda as Memel (German for Nemunas), since the crusaders considered the Curonian Lagoon, site of their castle, to be the mouth of the Nemunas River.
The residents of Klaipeda were granted the right to own boats in 1464; the first guild (of bakers) was set up in 1585; the town acquired a charter to hold fairs in 1597; the first hotel was opened in 1648, the first apothecary in 1677, the first factory (for leatherwork) in 1725; the first lighthouse was built in 1796. In 1807 Memel bacame the provisional capital of Prussia. The King Wilhelm Canal was dug in 1873, the Klaipeda-Tilsit railway constructed in 1875, a winter port established in 1880, electricity introduced and a celluloid factory opened in 1900.
The city’s first newspaper, Memelsches Wochenblatt, appeared in 1817, the first Lithuanian paper, Lietuvininku prietelis in 1849. Luise Gymnasium, established in 1860, permitted teaching in Lithuanian in the periods 1879-1891 and 1923-1939; a Lithuanian high school opened in 1922. Future ” aušrininkai” (a group of patriots and activists concentrated around the periodical Aušra) contributed to Lietuwisska Ceitunga, which was set up in 1878.
Although Klaipeda developed as a German port, the Lithuanians regarded the city as one of their own; an insurrection initiated by the Republic of Lithuania in 1923 resulted in Klaipeda and territory being annexed by Lithuania (after occupation in 1920 by the French army following the Treaty of Versailles). The seaport was expanded, schools were build, a trade institute opened in 1934; a pedagogical institute in 1935; by 1938 the Žemaiciu highway connected Klaipeda to Kaunas. Despite the inter-war policy of ” Lithuanisation” , Klaipeda’s German community remained influential, and the city and its territory were re-annexed by Germany in 1939.
Seriously damaged during the Second World War, with a portion of its population repatriated to Germany, after the war the German city of Klaipeda ended up in Soviet Lithuania. With people from Lithuania Proper and the Soviet Union moving into the depopulated area, Klaipeda became the fastest growing centre in the LSSR; initially a Russian community predominated, but over time and with increased cultural activity, especially in the 1970′s , the number of Lithuanians in the city escalated as well. A branch of the Lithuanian Academy of Music opened here in 1971, an art gallery in 1973, a sea museum in 1979, a musical theatre in 1986; the city’s drama theatre became well known and the art world became more active. A university was established in Klaipeda in 1991.
What to see in Klaipeda
Surviving fragments of a castle at the approach to the seaport at the mouth of the Dane are a reminder of the brick edifice built in the 17th century in place of an old wooden castle, and a stone fortification constructed there in 1253. The last fortification of the 17th century castle took place in 1756-1763; it was torn down after losing its strategic defence role and becoming an obstacle to urban expansion at the end of the 18th century. An exhibition in the 18th century tunnel underneath the Prince Friedrich Rampart (restored in 2002) illustrates the history of the fortress and city with authentic findings, models and virtual material.
Statue of Annchen Tharau - Klaipeda - Lithuania
Klaipeda’s Old Town (mostly destroyed by fire in 1854) occupies a small area around Aukštoji, Bružes, Didžioji Vandens,Kepeju, Kurpiu, Tiltu, Turgaus and Žveju streets, and is unique in its German Fachwerk (timberwork) style of houses. A complex of Fachwerk house and warehouses built at the end of the 18th century was restored and converted into an exhibition centre in 1982. The Museum of the History of Lithuania Minor is located in a building with baroque features at Didžioji Vandens gatve 6; its administrators occupy one of the oldest buildings in the city – a former post office built by post master J. Ch. Witte in 1773-1774. A neo-classicist building at Taetro 2 erected after the great fire, functions as a theatre to this day (the original city theatre was apparently founded in 1775). A fountain with a statue by Berlin sculptor Alfred Kühn of Annchen of Tharau, the heroine of a poem by the Klaipeda-born author Simon Dach, was erected in the theatre square in 1912. The statue was taken down in 1939 to make room for a monument to Hitler, who spoke from the theatre balcony on March 23, 1939; it disappeared during the Second World War and was replaced by a copy in 1989.
In the 17th century a wooden Biržos (Exchange) drawbridge connected the Old Town and the New Town (Naujamiestis); a metal bridge constructed in 1877-1879 was bombed during the Second World War and rebuilt in 1948. The Exchange buidling did not survive. A monument entitled Arch, symbol of a unified Lithuania (2003, by Arunas Sakalauskas), was erected near the brige to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Klaipeda insurrection. Administrative offices have taken over the riverside neo-classicist mansion and former home of the merchant and Danish consul Lorck at Danes gatve 17; the building was acquired by the city magistrate’s office in 1846 for use as a town hall, and was reconstructed in 1877. A plaque indicates that it was the residence of King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1807.