45 Facts About Kaunas

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life.

Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413.

Kaunas has been selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, together with Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg and Novi Sad, Serbia.

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.

Kaunas built a fortress near the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers and the city that grew up there was named after him.

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On 30 June 1993, the historical coat of arms of Kaunas city was re-established by a special presidential decree.

The heraldic seal of Kaunas, introduced in the early 15th century during the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas, is the oldest city heraldic seal known in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Kaunas has a greater coat of arms, which is mainly used for purposes of Kaunas city representation.

Kaunas is first mentioned in written sources in 1361 when the brick Kaunas Castle was constructed.

The Kaunas castle was rebuilt at the beginning of the 15th century.

The power of the self-governing Kaunas was shared by three interrelated major institutions: vaitas, the Magistrate, and the so-called Benchers' Court .

Kaunas began to gain prominence, since it was at an intersection of trade routes and a river port.

In 1441 Kaunas joined the Hanseatic League, and Hansa merchant office Kontor was opened—the only one in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Kaunas began lectures using the Lithuanian language, rather than Russian, and greatly influenced the spirit of the seminarians by narrating about the ancient Lithuania and especially its earthwork mounds.

Vileisis maintained many contacts in other European cities, and as a result, Kaunas was an active participant in European urban life.

In January 1919, during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, the War School of Kaunas was established and started to train soldiers who were soon sent to the front to strengthen the fighting Lithuanian Armed Forces.

Kaunas was a centre of Jewish learning, and the yeshiva in Slobodka was one of Europe's most prestigious institutes of higher Jewish learning.

Kaunas informed Juozas Urbsys about the Soviet–German secret protocols and showed maps of the spheres of influence.

Kaunas's wife was separated from their one-year-old daughter and brutally interrogated at Kaunas Prison, his old father Bernardas Rastikis, three daughters, two brothers and sister were deported to Siberia.

Kaunas approached the Kaunas War Field Commandant General Oswald Pohl and the Military Command Representative General Karl von Roques by trying to plead for him to spare the Jews, but they replied that the Gestapo is handling those issues and that they could not help.

Jewish life in Kaunas was first disrupted when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in June 1940.

Kaunas again became the major centre of resistance against the Soviet Union.

In 1956 people in the Kaunas region supported the uprising in Hungary by rioting.

Kaunas is famous for its basketball club, Zalgiris, which was founded in 1944 and was one of the most popular nonviolent expressions of resistance during its struggle with the CSKA Moscow.

The Kazlu Ruda Forest, west of Kaunas, creates a microclimate around the city, regulating humidity and temperature of the air, and protecting it from strong westerly winds.

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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.

Central Kaunas is defined by two pedestrian streets: the 2-km-long Laisves aleja, a central street of the city, lined by linden trees and decorated with flower beds.

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.

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

Kaunas is a large center of industry, trade, and services in Lithuania.

The most developed industries in Kaunas are amongst the food and beverage industries, textile and light industries, chemical industry, publishing and processing, pharmaceuticals, metal industry, wood processing and furniture industry.

Primary foreign investors in Kaunas are companies from the Sweden, United States, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, and Russia.

Joint Lithuanian-German company "Net Frequency", based in Kaunas, is a multimedia and technology service provider.

In October 2017, an automotive parts and technologies manufacturer Continental AG decided to invest over 95 million euros to build a new factory in Kaunas, which is the largest direct investment from a foreign country.

Kaunas is linked to Vilnius to its east and Klaipeda, on the Baltic Sea, via the A1 motorway and Daugavpils, via E262 highway.

The oldest part of Kaunas was connected with Zaliakalnis neighbourhood in 1889.

Since Kaunas is located at the confluence of two rivers, there were 34 bridges and viaducts built in the city at the end of 2007, including:.

Kaunas Railway Station is an important hub serving direct passenger connections to Vilnius and Warsaw as well as being a transit point of Pan-European corridors I and IX.

Kaunas still exists and have its boats in working condition.

The bus station in Kaunas underwent reconstruction for six months and reopened on 23 January 2017.

Kaunas is home to some historic venues such as: the main stadium of the city—S.

Kaunas has hosted the knockout stage of the European Basketball Championship of 2011.

Kaunas is one of the host cities for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Kaunas has a large number of public and private basic and secondary schools, as well as kindergartens and nurseries.

Minor planet 73059 Kaunas, discovered by Lithuanian astronomers Kazimieras Cernis and Justas Zdanavicius, in 2002, is named after the city of Kaunas.

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