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Lyduvėnai is a small town in the Šiluva Eldership [lt], Raseiniai District Municipality, Kaunas County in central Lithuania.[1] The town is 15 km north of Raseiniai and is near the confluence of the Dubysa and Dratvuo [lt] rivers.[1] Lyduvėnai is the home of the longest (599 metres) and highest railway bridge in Lithuania, the Lyduvėnai Bridge. The town possesses the eldership's center, has a railway stop, a school, a library, in addition to post. The town's postal code is LT-60046. Lyduvėnai is situated in the Dubysa regional park [lt] and has its information center in the town's school. The railway line Šiauliai–Tilžė and the highways to Raseiniai and Šiluva pass through Lyduvėnai.[1] Lyduvėnai is in the Dubysa valley, in contrast to other towns in the Dubysa basin.[2]

Lyduvėnai
Town
Lyduvėnai bridge
Lyduvėnai Location in Lithuania Show map of Lithuania Lyduvėnai Lyduvėnai (Baltic states) Show map of Baltic states Lyduvėnai Lyduvėnai (Europe) Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 55°30′30″N 23°05′0″E
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Samogitia
County	Kaunas County
Population  (2011)
• Total	99
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

In 2011, it had a population of 99.[3]

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1841	283	—
1897	222	−21.6%
1923	547	+146.4%
1959	271	−50.5%
1970	206	−24.0%
1979	212	+2.9%
1989	132	−37.7%
2001	125	−5.3%
2011	99	−20.8%

Etymology

The town used to be known as Lydavėnai, with the name arising from the local river Lýduva.[4] According to Jonas Basanavičius, Lyduvėnai comes from Lýda, which meant a field after the forests were cut down and the swamps drained.[5]

History

Lyduvėnai area was inhabited at the first millennium's beginning. The Lyduvėnai Hillfort I [lt] known as Danutė hill, Lyduvėnai Hillfort II [lt] known as Barsukalnis, and Lyduvėnai Hillfort III [lt] called Kaukuris, in addition to the Lyduvėnai stone [lt], are from those times.

15th century

Lyduvėnai was first mentioned in 1499.[1][4] From the 15th century's end, Lyduvėnai were owned by the Chodkevičiai, and later by the Rudzinskai, Šemetos and Stanevičiai.[6][7] The Lyduvėnai manor used to be called Padubysiai.[8]

16th century

In 1558, Sigismund II Augustus gave Lyduvėnai the privilege to create a town near the manor, to organize markets, and to keep taverns.[6][7] The Church in Lyduvėnai was always Catholic, dating from the late 16th century, although first mentioned in 1593.[1][7] In 1594, the Lyduvėnai valsčius and town are mentioned.[1]

17th and 18th centuries

The town expanded from the 17th to 18th centuries.[1] Lyduvėnai are marked on a Dutch map about Lithuania from 1613.[6] In 1668, there were just eight Jews in the town.[9] The Church of the St. Apostles Peter and Paul was built in Lyduvėnai in 1761[1] or 1764.[7]

19th century

At the time of the November Uprising in 1830–31, Ezechielis Stanevičius, the Raseiniai county's nobility's Maršalka, lived in Lyduvėnai manor.[7] Due to his involvement in the unsuccessful rebellion, the estate was confiscated and a Jewish colony was formed near it.[1][7] During the rule of the Russian Empire, from the 19th century to the 20th century's beginning, Lyduvėnai was the center of the valsčius.[1] During Motiejus Valančius' life, there was a parochial school, which was attended by 17 pupils in 1853.[7] The school was closed by the Russian government after the 1863 rebellion and later Russified.[1] In 1863, the local rebels supporting the January Uprising destroyed the Lyduvėnai valsčius office's documents,[1] in addition to appropriating its chest, which contained 150 rubles.[7] The local Catholic priest, Antanas Opulskis, who supported the insurgents, was arrested, interrogated and exiled to Tunka, where he died in 1872.[7]

20th century

World War I

In 1916, during the German occupation of Lithuania during World War I, the railway line Tilžė–Radviliškis was built through Lyduvėnai.[1] The Lyduvėnai bridge, originally named in Hindenburg's honour, was one of the largest wooden bridges ever built.[10][11] The bridge was built by 2,000 prisoners of war.[12] Initially the bridge was wooden, but it was remade in reinforced concrete in 1919.[1]

World War II

In June 1941, the 1st Panzer Division crossed the Dubysa at Lyduvėnai during the Battle of Raseiniai.[13] During summer 1941, 300 Jews and Communists from the village and its environs were executed on the occupying Nazi administration's orders on the slopes of the Dubysa.[1][11][14] The mass execution was done by five to seven members of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union and some local volunteers.[14] The Lyduvėnai bridge was destroyed by the retreating German Army in 1944, in hopes of slowing the Red Army's advance.[1][11]

Lithuanian partisans

After the Second World War, the P. Markevičius (Pranckus) platoon of Lithuanian partisans, subordinated to the Vėgėlė Rinktinė, operated near the town.[1]

The occupying Communist government deported eight residents of Lyduvėnai in 1940–1941 and 1944–1953.[1]

Buildings

During the interwar, there was a primary school, post, windmill with saw, several stores, and craft workshops.[11] In the 1950s, there was a school, a house for Bolshevik propaganda, surgeon and midwife station, library, and a single shop.[11] The Lyduvėnai bridge was re-built in 1952 and restored in 2005.[1]

The Koplytstulpis [lt] for the 440 year anniversary of the town's founding and also the 175th anniversary of the school were rebuilt in 1998, by the master craftsman R. Ramanauskas.[1]

Notable people

The following people were born in Lyduvėnai or its surroundings:^{[citation needed]}

• Benediktas Kalinauskas [lt], a Lithuanian nobleman involved in the November Uprising
• Albinas Sutkus [lt], a local politician
• Henrikas Šablevičius [lt], a Lithuanian cinematographer

Geology

The lithographic composition of the Middle Jurassic is similar in Lyduvėnai, Kaunas, and Klaipėda.[15]

References

Sources

• Brigys, Jonas (2020). "Lyduvėnų Šv. apašt. Petro ir Pauliaus bažnyčia" (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 4 August 2020.
• Kviklys, Bronius (1968). Mūsų Lietuva: krašto vietovių istoriniai, geografiniai, etnografiniai bruožai (in Lithuanian). Vol. 4. Lietuvių enciklopediijos leidykla.
• Lkiis (2015). "Lyduvėnai". Lietuvių kalbos išteklių informacinė sistema (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 2 September 2021.
• Miškinis, Algimantas (2021). "Lyduvėnai". Vle.lt (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
• Pečkaitienė, Laimutė (2006). "Lyduvėnai". Žemaičių žemė (in Lithuanian). 1. Archived from the original on 29 June 2006.

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