Veliuona

Veliuona ( Deutsch. outdated Welohnen ) is a Lithuanian town ( miestelis ) on the banks of the Nemunas River. Administratively, it is the center of the eponymous administrative district ( seniūnija ) in the Rajongemeinde Jurbarkas.

History

Veliuona looks back on a long and eventful history. Archaeological excavations confirm a settlement already in the Stone Age. The first written mention dates back to the written by Peter of Dusburg chronicle of the land of Prussia, mentions the place under the name Junigeda and is dated to 1291. Since 1315 the site appears under the name Veliuona, after the river that flows at this point in the Memel. The name Veliuona in turn probably derives from the goddess of the dead Velione.

Veliuona is ( like many other settlements in the area) protected on the about 30m high steep bank of the Memel and was at the beginning of the 14th century. a fortified settlement on two mounds. She made the end of the 13th and in the 14th century, the boundary of the sphere of the Lithuanians and the Teutonic Order. While the river downstream George Castle (1343-1403) and Bayer Castle ( 1337-44 ) were strongholds of the Knights, Veliuona was held by the Lithuanians. Repeats the castle was attacked by the Knights (1313-1319 almost a year! ); the attacks in August 1348 in April 1364 and in August 1367 led to the destruction of the castle. Always it was built by the Lithuanians again, for the third time, however, until the summer of 1411 ( see below). In the context of these disputes, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas of the place is supposed to have in 1341 found before Bayer castle death and have been buried in the castle of Veliuona, which is why one of the two hilltops is called Gediminasgrabhügel ( lit. Gediminas kapo kalnas ) (used in other sources Raudonė known as Gediminas ' death place ).

With the victory of the combined Polish and Lithuanian armies against the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Tannenberg in 1410 the limit was pacified and Grand Duke Vytautas was here in 1411 to build a new castle. This castle was an important meeting place of the Lithuanian Grand Duke with the Order masters. So here the closed in September 1422 Peace of Melnosee was ratified in May to 1423. Under the protection of the castle, a small town for the Vytautas 1418-21 a church on the bluff erected developed. For a few years at the beginning of the 16th century. Veliuona was given city rights in 1579 and existed here one of the first schools in Lithuania. The present church of the Assumption dates from the years 1636-44. Since the 16th century Veliuona was also a Country Estate. The owners in the 19th century, a family Saleški (also Zaleski ) could, 1818-20 build the still existing wooden house of worship in the classical style. The estate, which was after the end of the communist era again, back to the last owner, the family Vakselis, now houses a museum of local history.

Regional Park Panemuniai

Veliuona is in a regional park Panemuniai.

Personalities

• Ladislaus Zaleski (1852-1925); Catholic Archbishop, Apostolic Delegate of India and Latin Patriarch of Antioch.