{"id":1606,"date":"2019-07-10T09:31:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T07:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southbaltic-tourist.eu\/?page_id=1606"},"modified":"2021-07-02T12:39:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T11:39:15","slug":"1-an-the-niemen-river","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sbt.ug.edu.pl\/sv\/routes\/blue-and-green-believes-and-religions-of-the-south-baltic-area\/1-an-the-niemen-river\/","title":{"rendered":"(English) 1. An the Niemen River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyv\u00e4rr \u00e4r denna artikel enbart tillg\u00e4nglig p\u00e5 Amerikansk Engelska<\/a> och Polska<\/a>. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in this site default language. You may click one of the links to switch the site language to another available language.<\/p>

LOCATION<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The area stretching along the Niemen River had constituted the border between the Teutonic State and Prussia, and Lithuania for centuries. It is here that medieval crusades against pagan Balts focused, and that Catholic and Reformation communities, Calvinist and Lutheran ones, co-existed after the Reformation. Jews lived in many villages as well. There are no big towns or cities here, and the area is primarily agricultural. Today the River Niemen constitutes the border with Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). Taurag\u0117 (Lith. Taurag\u0117, Germ. Tauroggen) 55\u00b015\u2032N 22\u00b017\u2032E is the main administrative centre of the area, inhabited by almost 30,000 people.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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SIGHTSEEING<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n

Selected places of religious worship and ancient beliefs are situated within 50 km from <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Taurag\u0117<\/span><\/span><\/span>. All of them are accessible by car, down asphalt roads with low volume of traffic. Rambynas Hill (Rambyno Kalnas) and the former hill forts upon the River Niemen (Sered\u017eius, Kartup\u0117n\u0173 Piliakalnis) are accessible only on foot, and visiting them requires fitness (stairs, going up a 60-70-metre hill, inaccessible for people with motor disabilities). Except the cathedral in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Taurag\u0117<\/span><\/span><\/span>, Churches are open only in time of services (Sundays and holidays). We suggest you divide sightseeing into a day-long trips \u2013 one along the Niemen (between Jurbarkas and Sered\u017eius), and the other of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Taurag\u0117<\/span><\/span><\/span>, churches in Skaudville and Degu\u010diai, as well as Rambyno Kalnas (Bitenai).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ATTRACTIONS<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rambynas Hill<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> is a Sanctuary devoted to pagan god Perun, situated on the Niemen, and a place of pagan worship expressed by Romuva movement. The high shores of the Niemen constitute a part of the Regional Rambynas Park with walking trails, observation spots and the historical Evangelical cemetery in Bitenai (Bit\u0117n\u0173 Kapin\u0117s). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The hill forts on the Niemen <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>(<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Sered\u017eius, Kartup\u0117n\u0173 Piliakalnis) witnessed the medieval Crusades against Lithuania in the 13<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/sup><\/span> and 14<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/sup><\/span> century.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> The <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>fortress in Sered\u017eius (Palemono Kalnas) used to be a sacred place as well. On the route there are small villages and beautiful Renaissance Panemun\u0117s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> Pilis (Pilis). In <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Degu\u010diai <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>village we can admire one of few wooden churches on a triangular ground plan (\u0160v. Vincento Ferero ba\u017eny\u010dia)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> in Europe, constructed in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>1757. In <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Skaudvil\u0117<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em> there is a wooden, richly equipped baroque Church of the Holy Cross dating back to 1750. There are also remnants of a Jewish cemetery in the town which used to be inhabited<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> by many Jews. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Taurag\u0117<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>, the capital was an important centre for Lutheranism \u2013 in the town you can see a<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> reconstructed <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Evangelical chapel from the mid-19<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/sup><\/span> century, as well as a beautiful neo-Romanesque Catholic temple from 1904 (reconstructed in 1920 and 1955).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n