kids encyclopedia robot

Kaunas facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Kaunas
Vytautas church.jpg
Coat of arms of Kaunas
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): 
Laikinoji sostinė
Location of Kaunas
Location of Kaunas
Country  Lithuania
Ethnographic region Aukštaitija
County Kaunas County
Municipality Kaunas city
Number of elderates 11
Capital of Kaunas County
Kaunas city municipality
Kaunas district municipality
First mentioned 1361
Granted city rights 1408
Population
 (2007)
 • Total 358 107
 • Rank
2nd
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)

Kaunas is in the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915. During the interwar period, it served as the temporary capital of Lithuania, when Vilnius was part of Poland between 1920 and 1939. During that period Kaunas was celebrated for its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, construction of countless Art Deco and Lithuanian National Romanticism architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, the interior design of the time, and a widespread café culture.

The city interwar architecture is regarded as among the finest examples of European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label. It contributed to Kaunas being named as the first city in Central and Eastern Europe to be designated as a UNESCO City of Design. Kaunas has been selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, together with Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

The city is the capital of Kaunas County, and the seat of the Kaunas city municipality and the Kaunas District Municipality. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas. Kaunas is located at the confluence of the two largest Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris, and is near the Kaunas Reservoir, the largest body of water in the whole of Lithuania.

Folk history

Zamek w Kownie
The castle in Kaunas

An old legend claims that Kaunas was established by the Romans in ancient times. These Romans were supposedly led by a patrician named Palemon, who had three sons: Barcus, Kunas and Sperus. Palemon fled from Rome because he feared the mad Emperor Nero. Palemon, his sons and other relatives travelled to Lithuania. After Palemon's death, his sons divided his land. Kunas got the land where Kaunas now stands. He built a fortress near the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers, and the city that grew up there was named after him. A suburban region in the vicinity is named "Palemonas".

Culture

Église Sainte-Gertrude de Kaunas-1
The St. Gertrude's Church in Kaunas, Gothic style

Kaunas city is a centered around culture. The Old Town of Kaunas is located at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris Rivers where old architectural monuments and other historical buildings are located. Located to the East of the Old Town is the city's New Town, which started developing in 1847 and got its name when it became a distinct part of the city. Central Kaunas is defined by two pedestrian streets: the 2-km-long Laisvės alėja (Liberty Avenue), a central street of the city, lined by linden trees and decorated with flower beds.

The Old Town is the historical center of Kaunas. The streets in Old Town have been turned to pedestrian sidewalks, so it is best to tour the place by foot. Prominent features of the Old Town include Kaunas Castle, the Town Hall, and the historical Presidential Palace.

Vytautas the Great Bridge from hill, Kaunas, Lithuania - Diliff
Vytautas the Great Bridge, Kaunas, Lithuania

The Town Hall in Kaunas played an important role in the Medieval Times as a center for trade, festivals, and criminals were brought here for punishment. The Town Hall was originally built with wooden frames, however, after numerous fires in 1542 they began to construct buildings with stone. The stone buildings, however, also burned down so the Town Hall that stands today was constructed in a more advanced way, which took from 1771 to 1780. The Town Hall is still a center of culture today, it holds weddings and is the home of the Museum of Ceramics.

Other historical, cultural features of Kaunas include:

Warsaw Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (interior, including eternal flame)
  • Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Eternal flame, and Statues of Lithuanian national renaissance figures are located in the Vienybės square in front of the War museum
  • Kaunas Fortress, one of the largest defensive structures in Europe, occupying 65 km2 (25 sq mi), a 19–20th century military fortress, which includes a Holocaust site of the Ninth Fort
  • House of Perkūnas
  • Interbellum functionalism architecture complexes
  • Two funiculars – Žaliakalnis Funicular Railway and the Aleksotas Funicular Railway
  • Lithuanian open-air Ethnographic Museum displaying the heritage of Lithuanian rural life in a vast collection of authentic resurrected buildings is situated east of Kaunas on the bank of Kaunas Reservoir in a town of Rumšiškės
  • Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations

Museums

Kaunas is often called a city of museums, because of the abundance and variety of them. The museums in Kaunas include:

Lithuanian book smuggler sculpture (2018)
Lithuanian book smuggler sculpture near the Great War Museum in Kaunas
  • War Museum of Vytautas the Great
  • M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum
  • Žmuidzinavičius Museum (best known as the Devils' Museum), which houses a collection of more than two thousand sculptures and carvings of devils from all over the world
  • Lithuanian Aviation Museum
  • Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy
  • Historical Presidential Palace, displaying exhibits from the interwar period
  • Kaunas Museum for the Blind
  • Povilas Stulga Museum of Lithuanian Folk Instruments
  • Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum
  • Sugihara house-museum
  • The apartments of some famous Kaunas residents, including Paulius Galaunė, Adam Mickiewicz, Juozas Grušas, Balys Sruoga, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Salomėja Nėris, Juozas Zikaras, Vincentas Sladkevičius have been turned into public museums

Images for kids

  • VytautoDidžiojoBažnyčia

    St. Anne (Vytautas the Great) Church

  • Vytautas the Great Monument

    Vytautas the Great Monument in Kaunas

  • VIIth fort barracks

    One of the Kaunas Fortress barracks

  • Kaunas Priest Seminary, Kaunas, Lithuania - Diliff

    Kaunas Priest Seminary was one of the centres of the Lithuanian National Revival during the Russification era

  • 1921Kauno teatras

    Kaunas City Theatre, where the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania was held on 15 May 1920

  • Kauno Karininku Ramove

    Kaunas Garrison Officers' Club

  • Kaunas during inter-war

    Kaunas during the early years of the interwar period with horse-drawn trams

  • Romuladas Marcinkus reporting

    Lithuanian Air Force pilots with their ANBO 41 in Linksmadvaris aerodrome

  • Historical Presidential Palace in Kaunas (2017)

    The Historical Presidential Palace

  • Antanas Smetona inspects the Lithuanian Army soldiers

    President Antanas Smetona inspects the Lithuanian Army soldiers

  • A Model of Lituanica in Kaunas

    A Model 1:3 of Lituanica in Kaunas

  • Communists with the Lithuanian Army soldiers

    Soviet political leader (without military shoulder straps) and the People's Seimas member (with red rose in his jacket lapel) announces to the Lithuanian People's Army non-commissioned officers that "soon you will become members of the Red Army" in Kaunas, 1940

  • LAF fighters lead the arrested Commissar of the Red Army

    LAF activists lead the arrested Commissar of the Red Army in Kaunas

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1984-102-25A, Kaunas, Litauische Aktivisten

    Armed LAF members in Kaunas

  • LAF rebels inspects the deprived Soviet T-38 tank

    LAF activists inspect the deprived T-38 tank from the Red Army in Kaunas

  • Session of the Provisional Government of Lithuania

    Session of the Provisional Government of Lithuania in Kaunas

  • Wehrmacht in Liberty Avenue, Kaunas

    Wehrmacht soldiers marching through the Liberty Avenue in Kaunas

  • LT Kaunas, judaica - synagoga, 2019.07.18, fot Ivonna Nowicka (3)

    Façade of the Kaunas Choral Synagogue

  • Japonistikos centras

    Chiune Sugihara House in Kaunas

  • Muzikinis teatras 2006-06-10

    Romas Kalanta set himself on fire close to Kaunas State Musical Theatre protesting against the Soviet regime

  • Unity Square in Kaunas (2018)

    Vienybės aikštė (Unity Square) monument with eternal flame

  • Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejus (aut. A. Užbalis)

    Vytautas the Great War Museum

  • Street Scene along Vilniaus Gatve - Kaunas - Lithuania - 02 (27348366783)

    Cafés in the Kaunas Old Town

  • Oak forest park

    Ąžuolynas is the largest urban stand of mature oaks in Europe (ranging in age from 100 to 320 years old), and a very popular recreational destination

  • Kaunas Cathedral, Kaunas, Lithuania - Diliff

    Kaunas Cathedral Basilica is the religious centre of Kaunas

  • Kaunas European Capital of Culture

    Logo of the 2022 European Capital of Culture

  • M. K. Ciurlionis National Art Museum (2018)

    M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum

  • Zaliakalnio funikulierius 2006-06-17

    Žaliakalnis Funicular Railway

  • Siručio rūmai

    Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, located in the Siručiai Palace

  • LAM 2008-09 Anbo-1

    Lituanica's replica and ANBO I in the Lithuanian Aviation Museum

  • Kaunas National Philharmonic Society

    Kaunas State Philharmonic

  • Pažaislis Monastery interior 1, Kaunas, Lithuania - Diliff

    Pažaislis Monastery complex has the most marble-decorated Baroque church of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

  • Church of St Francis Xavier and Kaunas Town Hall (2017)

    Church of St. Francis Xavier, built by the Jesuits in 1666–1732, and Kaunas Town Hall, dating to 1542

  • Kaunas Central Post Office in 1930

    Kaunas Central Post Office is one of the most recognizable buildings of interwar Lithuania (pictured in 1930)

  • Kinas Romuva

    Romuva Cinema, the oldest still operational movie theater in Lithuania, which was initially opened in 1940

  • VMU Botanical Garden in Kaunas 2019-07-15

    VMU Botanical Garden

  • Jiesios piliakalnis 2007-06-09

    Napoleon's Hill

  • Lithuanian Shilling of Jonas Kazimieras Vaza with his portrait and Vytis (Waykimas), minted in Kaunas, 1665

    Coin of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, minted in Kaunas Mint, 1665

  • Lietuvos bankas Kaune

    Bank of Lithuania Palace in Kaunas was built in 1924–1928 with sumptuous interior and splendid exterior in order to showcase the economic capability of a newly restored Lithuania

  • Akvariumas 2006-12-02

    Aquarium in shopping centre Mega

  • Banknotas2

    Business centre decorated with a 1000 Lithuanian litas banknote design

  • Kauno musulmonu mecete1.2007-04-06

    Kaunas Mosque is the only brick mosque in Lithuania. To this day, it is still used by the Lipka Tatars, who were settled in the country by Vytautas the Great during the Middle Ages.

  • Sinagoga Zamenhofo 7

    The Neviazh Kloyz is one of the remaining former synagogues located in the Kaunas Old Town. The complex was built in the 19th century and also served as a community house and school.

  • Kaunas city municipality main building (2010)

    Kaunas city municipality main building

  • Kauno raj. sav. 2007-07-21

    Kaunas District Municipality main building before reconstruction

  • Kaunas International Airportxx

    Kaunas International Airport

  • Kaunas at night

    Vytautas the Great Bridge

  • Rekonstruotas Kauno tunelis

    Kaunas Railway Tunnel

  • Trolleybus in Kaunas, Solaris Trollino 12 (2019)

    Solaris Trollino 12S trolleybus with distinctive lime green color in Kaunas

  • U-23

    Kaunas S.Dariaus ir S.Girėno Sporto Centras

  • Kauno sporto hale

    Kaunas Sports Hall

  • Žalgiris Arena interior 18 Aug 2011

    Interior of Žalgiris Arena

  • KTU, mokslo ir technologijų centras

    Kaunas University of Technology Science and Technology Center

  • Kauno klinikos 2006 07 23

    Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics

  • Opera at the Kaunas Castle

    Opera at the Kaunas Castle

  • Hansos dienos

    Hanseatic Days in Kaunas

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Kaunas para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Kaunas Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.