Panevėžys

Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon, founder of Panevėžys in 1503

Legend has it that Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great, returning from Samogitia to Vilnius in 1414, found a temple (alka) of the old Lithuanian religion in the present-day surroundings of Panevėžys, but this has not been documented.[9][10]

Another myth among the locals, was also that when Anna - wife of Vytautas the Great, was refreshing herself in the river of Nevėžis, and her personal servant got startled by crayfish in river waters (crayfish in lithuanian is Vėžys) - and yelled "Pani, viažys" so Anna would be careful. This was not documented, but is well known story among people from local areas.

Panevėžys, marked in a 1573 map

Panevėžys was first mentioned evidently on 7 September 1503 in documents signed by the Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon, who granted the town building rights to construct a church and other structures.[11][12][10] Alexander Jagiellon is considered as the founder of the city, which celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2003; two renowned monuments were built in the city for this anniversary, one of which is dedicated to Alexander Jagiellon.[13][14] The city lies on the old plain of the river Nevėžis and the city name means "along the Nevėžis."[15] Panevėžys Mound with a flat top and 1.5 – 2 meters high embankments previously stood at the confluence of river Nevėžis and stream Sirupis (destroyed in the 19th – 20th centuries).[16] Throughout the 16th century, the city maintained a status of a Royal town.[11] Communities of Poles inhabit the area from the 13th century, and Karaites, settled in the area as early as the 14th century. A Karaite Kenesa, and a Polish Gymnasium, existed in Panevėžys until the Second World War (the Polish version of the name of the city was Poniewież).[17][18][19][20] In the 16th century, the part of the city on the left bank of the river started to develop and expand further.[12] In 1727, the Piarists, who moved to the western part of Panevėžys, built a Church of the Holy Trinity, established a monastery and a college.[11][21][22] In 1791, Panevėžys was granted a conditional privilege to elect the city government.[11]

Imperial Russian Army soldiers in the present-day Independence Square

Following the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the city was assigned to the Vilna Governorate.[11] In 1800, Panevėžys received a permission to build a town hall.[11][23] In 1825, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in Panevėžys, and the Orthodox parish was founded in 1841.[11] The city played an important role in both the November Uprising, and the January Uprising, and the fights for independence continued there after 1864.[11] In 1843, Panevėžys was assigned to the Kovno Governorate and in 1866 the town hall was replaced with a City Duma.[11] Panevėžys Teachers' Seminary was the first education institution in the Russian Empire in which the teaching of the Lithuanian language was officially started.[24]

Panevėžys in the early 20th century

Following the Industrial Revolution, at the end of the 19th century, the first factories were established in the city, and industry began to make use of modern machinery.[11][12] As products were oriented towards the mass market, banking intensified and commerce increased.[11][12] The educational system became more accessible, and literacy increased, as well.[12] By the end of 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, Panevėžys became a strong economic and cultural center of the region.[12] At the time it was the fourth most important city in Lithuania (excluding Klaipėda).[12]

Panevėžys also was a center of operations by local knygnešiai (book smugglers).[25][26] In 1880, Naftalis Feigenzonas established the first printing house in Panevėžys.[27] At the end of the book prohibition, one of the Lithuanian book smugglers – Juozas Masiulis – in 1905 opened the first Lithuanian bookstore and printing house.[11] The building is still a landmark of Panevėžys, and local people are proud of this heritage, symbolized in a bookstore that has been functional for more than 100 years.[28]

Parade of the Lithuanian Armed Forces soldiers in front of the Cathedral of Christ the King, 1930

Volunteers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces had liberated the city for the first time from the Bolsheviks' forces on 27 March 1919 during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence and raised flags of Lithuania.[29] Between the World Wars, in the newly independent Lithuania, Panevėžys continued to grow.[11] According to the Lithuanian census of 1923, there were 19,147 people in Panevėžys (19,197 with suburbs), among them 6,845 Jews (36%) (in Yiddish the town's name was פּאָניוועזש, transliterated as Ponevezh).[11][30]

The Ponevezh Yeshiva, one of the most notable Haredi yeshivas in the history of the Jews in Lithuania, was established and flourished in the town.[31] Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman (1886–1969) was its rosh yeshiva (head) and president.[31] Known as the "Ponovezher Rov", he was also the leading rabbi of Panevėžys. He managed to escape to the British Mandate of Palestine where he set about rebuilding the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak where it still exists in modern Israel.[32] It has a very large student body of young Talmud scholars.

Antanas Stapulionis, commander of the June Uprising staff

The town's population rose to 26,200 between 1923 and 1939.[11] On 15 June 1940, Red Army military forces took over the city, as a consequence of the forced incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. A number of political prisoners were murdered near the sugar factory.[33][12] A large number of residents were exiled to Siberia (merely during the June deportation in 1941 over 600 residents were exiled to Siberia) or suffered other forms of political repression.[11][12][34]

On 23 June 1941, the June Uprising began in Panevėžys County.[35] The most active participants of the uprising were in Ramygala and Krekenava counties.[35] The participants of the uprising were also active in the city of Panevėžys.[35] On 25 June 1941, the Panevėžys Staff of the June Uprising was established in the city which was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Antanas Stapulionis.[35] One of the staff's tasks was to oversee the order in the city, thus Antanas Stapulionis had issued an order stating that the robbers will be shot on the spot,[35] and ordered to remove all signs which reminisced the Soviet rule.[36] Moreover, the scouts were sent to all roads leading from the city and on 25 June, at the initiative of the rebels, the Piniavos Bridge and the food factory Maistas were demined.[35] The Panevėžys Post Office was peacefully passed into the hands of the rebels.[35] During the first days of the war, the NKGB units carried out repressions, arrested participants of the June Uprising and civilians who spoke out against the Soviet government; the detainees were transported to the Panevėžys Prison.[36] As the Germans were approaching, seeing no way out, the Soviets had decided to retreat to the East and to shoot the political prisoners in the prison.[36] Already on 27 June, the city was full of the Lithuanian Tricolor flags and without any serious clashes with the retreating Red Army in the city or its surroundings.[36] Furthermore, on 27 June, the Wehrmacht had entered Panevėžys and in the end of June the Germans liquidated the staff of the rebels.[36]

Military vehicles in Freedom Square during the World War II

After Germany attacked the USSR, Panevėžys was occupied by German forces, as it had been during the First World War.[11] It acquired the status of a district center (Gebietskommissariate) within the Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the Nazi occupation nearly all the Jewish population of the town was killed in 1943 during the Holocaust;[37][11][12] only a few managed to escape and find asylum abroad. The major massacre was in August 1941 when 7,523 Jews were executed by the German Army officers and soldiers, German-SS officers and the Panevėžys (10th) police battalion.[38][11]

In 1944 the city was yet again occupied by the Soviet Union leading to a new wave of political exiles and killings.[11][12] The Lithuanian partisans of the Vytis military district actively operated in the Panevėžys County from 1944 and militarily confronted with the Soviet forces in notable battles, however following the death of chief Bronius Karbočius in 1953 the staff of the Vytis military district was not restored and the last partisans were killed in action in 1956.[39][40]

Rally in Freedom Square, condemning the January Events, 1991

After World War II, the natural process of the city's evolution was disrupted.[12] The Soviet Communist Party exercised dictatorial control and the city was transformed into a major industrial center.[12] During the 1960s and 1980s, several large-scale industrial companies were established.[12] The Soviet authorities also partly destroyed the old town and only after protests by local population was total destruction of the old city center stopped.[41]

The number of inhabitants increased from 41,000 to 101,500 between 1959 and 1979.[11][12]

In 1990, the population reached 130,000.[11][12] After Lithuania regained its independence, the city's industry faced some major challenges.[12] For some time it was regarded as a place where plastics cooperatives were making large profits. After independence, the population of Panevėžys fell somewhat and for a while most investments went to Vilnius or Klaipėda instead.[11] However, with the economic growth in the early 2000s, investment also reached Panevėžys. Babilonas real estate project, the largest such project in the Baltic States with an 80 ha land area, has been developed in Panevėžys since 2004.[42]

Panevėžys Free Economic Zone was established in 2013.[43]

The former archive of the Upytė County Court is the oldest house in Panevėžys, built in 1614

Old Panevėžys started to develop at the beginning of the 16th century on the right bank of Nevėžis when Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon separated the lands from the state manor for the Parish of Ramygala, currently this part of Panevėžys is located in the Senamiesčio Street (English: Old Town Street).[41] Soon, in a more convenient place, on the land of the Grand Duke's manor on the left bank of the Nevėžis, near the important roads to Ramygala and Upytė, New Panevėžys began to develop (the current city center).[44] Following the Volok Reform at the end of the 16th century, New Panevėžys separated from the manor and became a separate territorial unit.[44] Between the Old and the New Town stood the Panevėžys Manor, thus the different dependence of these parts of the city (to the state, the church, and the private nobleman) prevented Panevėžys from developing evenly.[44] As a result, no prominent architectural ensembles and dominant compositions were formed, also there were no public buildings that stood out in terms of size or artistic expression.[44] The city consisted of single-storey wooden buildings, a wooden church, and a small, inexpressive manor house.[44] The only surviving heritage of that period in the city is the Renaissance style building of the Upytė County Court and the network of streets.[44][45]

Church of the Holy Trinity which was turned into an Eastern Orthodox church following the suppression of the Uprising of 1831

The city was severely damaged during the war with Moscow in 1654–1667 and the Great Northern War of 1700–1721, thus only 18 families lived in Old Panevėžys in 1720 and 90 families in New Panevėžys in 1738.[44] In the second half of the 18th century, Panevėžys, like many other small cities affected by the wars, consisted almost exclusively of wooden one-storey houses.[44] In 1727, on the western side of the New Panevėžys Square, the construction of the ensemble of the Piarists Monastery was started: the monastery building, the church and the college (to be rebuilt after the fire of 1790 with a Classicist style stone masonry church).[44][11][21] New buildings and the wooden synagogue built in 1794 did not change the city plan, but highlighted the city center, which had no striking accents in terms of size and spatial composition.[44] Of these buildings, only the church has survived to this day, while others were damaged during the World War II and were demolished in the post-war years.[44] The houses around the city's square highlighted its space, while the part of the city beyond the river (Old Panevėžys) had a typical rural view.[44]

In the 1780s, there were two independent uniform radial-plan urban complexes separated by a forest: the town of New Panevėžys and the town of Old Panevėžys.[44] In 1780, after the burning of the wooden church of Old Panevėžys, it was rebuilt not in the previous place, but in the pine forest of the Nevėžis loop, between both parts of Panevėžys.[44] After cutting down the forest around the church, a new town was built next to it, according to the traditional rectangular plan and the planned square, which under the tsar's administration in the 19th century was named Nikolaev (called as Smėlynė by the local folks).[44] In 1781, Old Panevėžys had 2 streets and 21 homestead, while in 1788 in New Panevėžys there were 144 plots near 8 streets.[44] The longest in this part of Panevėžys was Ramygalos Street, which was divided into two branches at the northern end and between them was a triangular market square.[44] At the end of the 18th century, a mixed plan of Panevėžys was forming: it consisted of three parts of different sizes and different stages of development.[44] The entire structure was dominated by New Panevėžys in which the Piarists Monastery with a Classicist style towerless stone church was rebuilt after the fire of 1790.[44]

St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, completed in 1885

Since the early 19th century, New Panevėžys grew faster and by the middle of the century its territory spread mostly to the west, less to the east, and with other parts of the city – Old Panevėžys and especially the grown-up Smėlynė (which had 7 streets and a square in 1856) – had already formed a single complex.[44] As the territory grew more slowly than the population, the buildings were mostly built in the central part of New Panevėžys, where densely built-up quarters were formed.[44] After 1825 the Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in the city (it was rebuilt in 1845), while in 1830 the county's treasury, in 1837 – a prison, after 1840 – a hospital and after 1842 – a boyar's school were built.[44][46] The significance of the Piarists Monastery increased, however it was closed after the Uprising of 1831 and the monks' corps was turned into a military barracks, while the Catholic church was remade into an Eastern Orthodox church.[44] There were a number of brick buildings in New Panevėžys, some of them in the Classicist style and brick buildings began to dominate in the city center.[44] However, unlike in most Lithuanian cities, Panevėžys spread over a rather large area on both sides of Nevėžis and lacked buildings which would have formed its silhouette and highlighted the panorama of the city in the landscape of plains.[44] In 1877–1885, the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church of Romanesque Revival style with two tall towers was built instead of a wooden church, which began to dominate in the city's silhouette.[44][47] In 1878, a planning project for the city of Panevėžys was prepared in which new quarters were planned in the northern and southern parts of the city as an organic continuation of the already established plan (12 new quarters were added to the existing 49 quarters).[44] Since 1873, the growth of the city was also influenced by the completed railway track between Radviliškis and Daugavpils; the railway and station soon grew into the fabric of an expanding city.[44][48]

Panevėžys County Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library, 1915

Windmills in Panevėžys that were constructed in the 19th century

Other notable buildings from the 19th century and early 20th century are two windmills in Ramygalos Street (built in 1875 and 1880),[1] historicism brick style Panevėžys bottling plant of the state vodka monopoly in Kranto Street (built in 1880; served as a Panevėžys Cannery during the Soviet period),[49] building of the current Juozas Balčikonis Gymnasium (1884),[50] residential house of J. Kasperovičius (1889; served as a court during the interwar period, later as a Local Lore Museum during the Soviet period and currently is the Panevėžys City Art Gallery),[51] historicism brick style prison buildings – a two-story administrative building near the street and a four-story prison building in the courtyard (1893; P. Puzino St. 12),[52] eclectic two-storey hotel Centralinis with mezzanine and attic (1894; Laisvės Square 1),[53][54] Moigių houses complex of pink and yellow brick masonry (1895; now Panevėžys Museum of Local Lore),[55][56] historicism style yeast and distillery factory buildings (Respublikos St. 82),[57] historicism style two-storey J. Masiulis Bookstore (1890–1900),[58] Natelis Kisinas' house (1900; in 1987 it was integrated into the Panevėžys City Municipality building complex),[59] neoclassical with Art Nouveau style features Panevėžys Credit Society Palace (1915; now Panevėžys County Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library).[60]

Panevėžys branch of the Bank of Lithuania with Vytis above its entrance

Wooden villa of attorney Česlovas Petraškevičius in the city's outskirts[61]

During the World War I around 100 buildings were damaged or destroyed in Panevėžys.[62] Following the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, Panevėžys began to recover: city's bridges were renovated (1925), streets were paved, a power plant was built (1923).[63] During the interwar period, a number of public and residential buildings and industrial buildings were built in the city, and a precise geodetic plan of the city was prepared – one of the first such works in Lithuania (1933–1934; engineers M. Ratautas, A. Kočegūra, P. Butrimas).[63] In the 1930s, the construction of the sewerage system was started, the bed of the Nevėžis was adjusted, and Laisvės Square was renewed.[63] In the early 1920s, the city lacked funds, thus the first slightly more significant building was a modest one-storey primary school with an attic at the intersection of Marija (now A. Smetona) and Klaipėdos streets, built in 1923; in the same year a wooden Panevėžys County Hospital was built.[64]

Since the end of the 1920s, much more significant buildings have been built. In 1928, the Jewish Gymnasium from yellowish bricks was built in Elektros Street in the style of historicism (now serves as the Panevėžys Regional Court), which was called as a palace due to its splendid exterior decoration and installed heating and water supply systems.[65] In 1930, the Panevėžys Cathedral of Neo-Baroque style forms was consecrated by Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis.[66][67] In the 1930s, instead of historicism, the style of Lithuanian modernism began to prevail: building of the Panevėžys branch of the Bank of Lithuania (1931),[63][68] Panevėžys State Girls' Gymnasium in Smėlynės Street (1932; architect Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis),[69] Panevėžys District Municipality Building (1933),[70] Jewish People's Bank building in Respublikos Street (1933; now restaurant Nendrė vėjyje),[63][71] Panevėžys City Primary School No. 3 in Ukmergės Street (1935),[63] Panevėžys Regional Health Insurance Fund Building (1937),[63] primary school in Danutės Street (1938; now Panevėžys 5th Gymnasium),[63] a two-storey Panevėžys Farmers Small Credit Bank Building in Laisvės Square (1938),[72] Panevėžys St. Chapel of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in Marijonų Street (1939),[73] three-storey primary school no. 2 in Maironio Street (1940; now Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium),[63] a four-storey building for the Seminary of Priests of the Panevėžys Diocese (now Panevėžys Kazimieras Paltarokas Gymnasium),[74] Panevėžys County Municipal Palace (1940).[75] Cheap wooden construction was more popular for residential housing, thus houses in Panevėžys were also much cheaper (~9,000 LTL) than in Kaunas (~30,000 LTL) and Šiauliai (~19,000 LTL).[63]

Seminary of Priests of the Panevėžys Diocese building, which was completed after the World War II

During the World War II, Panevėžys was damaged quite severely again.[12] After the war, part of the historic buildings were reconstructed, and large-scale buildings that did not correspond to the historical scale appeared in the destroyed places and empty spaces.[76] The mostly damaged part of Panevėžys was a quarter between Ukmergė and Elektros streets, which has long been inhabited by the poor Jews (so-called Slobodka); at the end of the 1960s many brick apartment buildings were built in this quarter along with the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre (1967–1968).[77]

Former Information Computing Center building, an exceptional example of late modernism

Industrial enterprises were renovated in the post-war years, three-storey blocks of flats were built in empty places in the city center and near the center in Kranto, Ukmergės, N. Gogolio (now Smėlynės), Ramygalos, Klaipėdos, Agronomijos (now Marijonų), Sandėlių (now S. Kerbedžio) streets, Liepų Avenue, and two-storey houses in Margių, Algirdo, Stoties streets.[78][79] During the Soviet era, Panevėžys was developed as an industrial center.[12] According to the 1961 master plan, two industrial districts were formed: the city's northwest and northeast. In the sixties and seventies, large industrial companies were built: Lietkabelis, reinforced concrete products, precision mechanics, autocompressors, Ekranas factory, glass factory.[11]

Consequently, the city grew rapidly as residents from the surrounding villages and other districts moved to Panevėžys and construction of apartment districts has begun.[79] The first quarters of 4-5 storey brick houses were built in P. Rotomskio (now Marijonų), Vilnius, J. Basanavičius streets, while since 1965 large-scale prefabricated houses were built, mainly five-storey (so-called khrushchyovkas).[79] The characteristic features of the buildings built in the 1970s and 1980s are the ignorance of the architectural environment, the use of strict, ascetic forms, the abandonment of aesthetic architectural goals, turning them into styless buildings.[80] The multi-apartment houses built in the city center based on repeated projects diminished and leveled the general urban character of the center.[80]

Hotel established on the premises of a former mill

In the first years of the re-established Independent Lithuania, huge residential houses of several hundred square meters with no architectural value began to sprout on the outskirts of the city.[81] No major constructions took place: the development of Kniaudiškės multi-apartment district stopped, the construction of public buildings decreased and with the closure of many industries, their buildings have been abandoned and demolished, however many buildings were also adapted by modern companies in the later years and Panevėžys continues to be referred as an industrial city.[82][12] With the construction of large supermarkets on the western outskirts of the city, a shopping district was formed.[81] Individual houses predominated in the construction of residential houses, with most houses being built in the nearest northern and southern suburbs of Panevėžys.[83] New apartment buildings were built in Ramygala, Margiai, Klaipėda-Projektuotojų, Suvalkų, Pušaloto streets.[84]

Freedom Bridge, photographed between 1925–1940

The first bridge over river Nevėžis was built in the 17th century between Old and New Panevėžys.[85] The description of Kovno Governorate mentions a 128 meters long bridge on poles.[85] In the interwar period, the city had two reinforced concrete bridges and three wooden bridges, which the city municipality were removing in the winters to prevent them from being carried away by ice.[85] Both reinforced concrete bridges, named as Laisvės (English: Freedom) and Respublikos (English: Republic), were built in the 1930s.[86] The decks of the Respublikos Bridge were blown up during the World War II, thus it was reconstructed in 1968.[86] The Laisvės Bridge (located in the current Smėlynės Street) with huge arches became too narrow as traffic flows increased, thus it was demolished in 1964 and was replaced by a new uncut system beam reinforced concrete three-span bridge.[86]

During the Soviet era, as the city grew, more bridges were built: the Nemunas Street Bridge (1976), the Ekranas Bridge on J. Biliūno Street (Nevėžis Dam, 1979).[87] The bridge of Savitiškio (now – Vakarinės) Street was built a little earlier, first it was wooden, later it was rebuilt from a reinforced concrete.[87] In the 2000s, the Panevėžys Bypass Bridge was built on the western outskirts of the city (reconstructed in 2019).[88] The city also has three pedestrian bridges across river Nevėžis: at Skaistakalnis, near the Palace of Communities, and in the Culture and Recreation Park (1984, reconstructed in 2015).[89]

In the north-east of Panevėžys, above Senamiesčio Street and the wide railway, a narrow-gauge railway viaduct was built in 1938, which is enlisted in the Register of Cultural Values of the Republic of Lithuania.[90]

Recreational area near Senvagė Pond and Nevėžis with view to the city

The main green spaces of Panevėžys are located in the Nevėžis Valley along the river Nevėžis. Parks and greenery in the city occupy about 700 hectares or 14% of the total area of Panevėžys.[91] The area of greenery per one resident of Panevėžys is almost three times larger than the norm defined by legal acts (25 m²).[91] The largest recreational area in the city is the 39 hectares Culture and Recreation Park (Lithuanian: Panevėžio kultūros ir poilsio parkas).[92] The area of the oldest Skaistakalnis Park – 29.74 hectares, Youth Park (Lithuanian: Jaunimo parkas) – 4.14 hectares.[91] In the west of the city, it is planned to install another, Kniaudiškės Park, the area of which will reach 7.7 hectares.[91]

Other important green areas in the city are Senvagė,[93] Palace of Communities (Lithuanian: Bendruomenių rūmų),[94] January 13 (Lithuanian: Sausio 13-osios),[95] Remembrance (Lithuanian: Atminimo),[96] Povilas Plechavičius squares,[97] A. Baranauskas Park. As well as the greenery of Freedom (Lithuanian: Laisvės),[98] Independence (Lithuanian: Nepriklausomybės),[99] and Volunteers (Lithuanian: Savanorių) squares.[100] Over 6 million euros were invested in renovation of the Freedom Square in 2017–2021.[101] The Independence Square also was renovated with 1.9 million euros investment in 2017–2021.[102]

In 1934–1936, A. Jakštas Avenue was established with cement bricks pavement on the right bank of river Nevėžis.[103] Planted with acacias, it became one of the most beautiful places in Panevėžys in a few years, and was called the Love Avenue by the townspeople.[103] The A. Jakštas Street was newly reconstructed in 2018–2020 for 1.7 million euros.[104]

The main recreational water body of the city is Ekranas Lagoon with place for launching boats, pontoon jetty with place for lowering and raising kayaks, mooring berth, as well as pedestrian and bike paths, recreation and entertainment areas near it.[105]

• (in Lithuanian) Istorija (History). City of Panevėžys. Panevėžys.lt