Kretinga is located in the Curonian countryside of Megowe, a city in western Lithuania in the immediate vicinity (11 km) of the Baltic Sea resort of Palanga and 25 km from the port city of Klaipėda. It is the core city and seat of the Rajongemeinde Kretinga.
On the northern outskirts of the city is the Kretinga cemetery.
Cretyn was first mentioned in 1253. In the writings of Curonian Bishop
Henrik, as an important Curonian settlement that belonged to the land of
Meguva. According to the partition act, 1253 Kretinga Castle and half of
its lands were left to the Curonian nobleman Veltūnas, and the other
half was shared by the Master of the Livonian Order and the Curonian
Bishop. After the battle of Durbe in 1260 Kretinga Castle rebelled
against the Livonian Order. 1263 the crusaders organized 2 crusades
against the castle. During the first campaign, the Cretans repelled an
attack led by the commander of the Klaipėda castle, and the commander
himself was captured and burned at the stake (sacrificed to the gods).
During the second campaign, the crusaders lured the castle's crew into a
trap, massacred the inhabitants, and burned the castle.
From the
15th century the famous Kretinga manor, which belonged to the elders of
Žemaicai, the Kęsgailas. Around 1532 it passed to the Grand Duke of
Lithuania Žygimantas the Elder and became a royal estate. in 1572 the
manor was purchased by Jonas Chodkevičius, the elder of Žemaičiai. His
son Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius was buried in the village cemetery in
1602. built the first wooden church and founded the Bernardine
monastery. For the Bernardine monks in 1605-1610. built the monastery
palace, and in 1610-1617 - the brick Church of the Annunciation of the
Lord. Church of the Virgin Mary. Next to the monastery and the church,
in 1609, the town was being formed. January 23 granted the right of
Magdeburg (naming it Karolstadt - Karolstadt in his honor). in 1611
there were 3 mills, a winery, a distillery in the town. in 1621 the
estate went to Ona Scholastikas, daughter of J. Chodkevičius, who
married LDK marshal Jonas Stanislovas Sapiega, and Kretinga went to the
Sapiegas as a bride's dowry. During the war with Sweden in 1656 the
revolted peasants destroyed the Swedish company in Kretinga. in 1745
Kretinga manor and town passed to the Masalskis.
in 1778 Kretinga
burned down. After the divisions of the Republic of the Two Nations, it
came under the Russian Empire and lost the city's self-government
rights. in 1795 Kretinga was ruled by Count Vincent Gavel Potocki, who
in 1806 sold the estate to Prince Platon Zubov. In 1874, he was taken
from the Zubov family. was bought by Count Juozapas Tiškevičius, who
established a family residence in Kretinga.
Before 1808 Kretinga
Evangelical Lutheran Church was established. in 1831 the rebels had
captured the city several times. 19th century - 20th century at the
beginning of the Kretinga monastery, clergymen who had committed crimes
against the authority of the Russian Empire and ecclesiastical law were
imprisoned, among them was 1831. supporters of the uprising, later
opponents of the Lithuanian press ban). 1854 and 1908 Kretinga burned,
1889. burned down
19th century Kretinga expanded, became the
center of the town, held markets and trade fairs. 19th century at the
end of the 20th century at the beginning, secret Lithuanian schools
operated (taught by M. Drungilienė, B. Kardūnaitė). The banned
Lithuanian press was distributed in the surroundings by K. Jokubauskas,
I. Pocius, K. Prialgauskas, K. Tamošauskas and other booksellers, and
social democratic literature by A. Kairys, M. Kėkštys. in 1892 the
construction of the railway from Klaipėda to Kretinga was completed,
during the First World War the railway Bajorai - Priekulė (Latvia) was
built, 1924-1932. - railway Kretinga - Kužiai. 20th century an amber
processing company was established at the beginning. 1910 a woolen
carding mill was established in 1919. – sawmill, steam mill, power
station (these companies burned down in 1921), in 1921 - oily. in 1925
wool fabric factory "Laisvė" was established.
1915-1918 and
1919-1950 Kretinga was the center of the county. 1934-1940 the magazine
"Franciskonoi saosalis" is published. in 1941 June, 1947-1949 and in
1951 The USSR authorities deported 211 residents of Kretinga. At the
beginning of World War II, Kretinga was bombed; the city center was
burned. in 1941 June 25 In the wheat forest, the Gestapo officers of the
German Tilze operative squad and their local helpers shot 215 residents
of Kretinga, mostly Jewish men; Jewish women and children were murdered
in 1941. August - September In the ghetto established in the Pryšmanų
manor. After the Second World War, the partisans of the Kardo team
operated in the vicinity of Kretinga.
in 1946 August 3 became a
city under the county. in 1946 the monastery was closed by the decision
of the Soviet authorities, later a local history museum was located
there, the monastery was restored in 1991). 1950-1995 Kretinga was the
center of the district, the Kurmaičiai area, the central settlement of
the animal husbandry farm, since 1995. is the center of the Kretinga
district municipality, is the St. Kazimierz Provincial Curia.
in
1993 the current coat of arms of Kretinga was approved.
The old territory of the city of Kretinga (31.3 ha) is a monument of
archeology and urban planning. The central part of the city has a
rectangular plan, planned in 1607 during the Wallachian reform. The most
famous buildings:
The one-tower trinave basilica of the
Annunciation of the Lord. Church of the Virgin Mary, built in 1617, 1908
rebuilt according to the project of the Polish architect S.
Odrzivolskis; has gothic and renaissance features. The interior of the
church is dominated by Renaissance and Baroque features; especially
valuable are 3 sarcophagi, two wooden carved doors (all from the
beginning of the 17th century), choir tables with portraits of monks, 3
altars with sculptures, a pulpit with 11 sculptures (all from the 17th
century), paintings "Holy Family" and "St. Ona" ornaments (both 19th
century).
The ensemble of Bernardine (Franciscan) monastery buildings
(1610).
18th century second half - 20th century At the beginning of
the Kretinga estate, a palace with an orangery has survived (mid-19th
century, Kretinga Museum since 1992), i.e. Mr. other residential,
industrial buildings (a half-timbered water mill from the end of the
18th century, a stone masonry brewery, built in 1836, a forge from the
second half of the 19th century), farm buildings.
The park was
founded in the 18th century.
Water mill built in 1769.
The water
mill of the former monastery, 1822.
Kretingos Old Cemetery.
St.
Kretinga George's Chapel.
Jurgis Ambroziejus Pabreza grave chapel.
The Neo-Gothic chapel of Counts Tiškevičius in the new cemetery, built
in 1893, supposedly by the architect Karl Eduardas Strandmanas.
Kretinga Evangelical Lutheran Church, rebuilt in 1897.
The building
of the Franciscan high school in Kretinga, built in 1932.
Kretinga
bank building, architect Mykolas Songaila, 1938.
St. Orthodox
Kretinga Chapel of Eleuterius Archived 2014-05-21 from the Wayback
Machine project.
monument to commemorate the decade of Lithuanian Independence, 1930,
sculptor Robertas Antinis, demolished during the Soviet occupation, 1990
restored.
monument to Jurgis Pabrėza, 1993, sculptor Algirdas Bosas,
architect Saulius Manomaitis.
monument to Jonas Karolis Chodkevičiis,
2009, architect Adomas Skiezgelas.
Kretinga is located in the Pajūris lowlands, Akmena winds through the
city from north to south, dividing the city into two parts, which are
connected by 4 bridges. The city center is separated from the northern
part by the Pastaunykos (St. Antanas) stream, which was dammed and
formed ponds. Akmena's tributaries Dopultis and Jaurykla flow through,
there are many small ponds. The greater part of the city is located on
the eastern bank of Akmena. Here is the municipality, the town square,
the cultural center of the Kretinga district. On the northern edge,
there is the palace of the Tiškevičius Manor (it houses the Kretinga
Museum with the Winter Garden and a park), the district hospital, and
the primary health care center. There are industrial companies on the
western bank of Akmena, and the Šiauliai–Klaipėda railway runs.
Kretinga–Skuodas railway since 2009. unused.
The southern
districts of the city are Bajorai and Penkininkai.
Kazimieras Būga and later authors claimed that the name of the city
is a krēt root and -inga suffix (characteristic of Curonian lands). The
root kret- can be associated with the word kreteti - "to tremble,
tremble, explore". Thus, the area could have the meaning of a falling
place, a swamp. Folk etymology tells us that the art of shaking refers
to the times when there were no good roads and it was only possible to
pass through the city over stones.
Another Lithuanian linguist,
Antanas Salys, based on the form of the city name without the letter g
found in historical writings (Cretyn, Creten, Kretine, etc.),
hypothesized that the first gender of the name was Kretenė, which comes
from the personal name Kretas or Kreta. He explained this by analogies
of the historical development of settlement names with Palanga, Būtinge.
Cretaceous forms of the name without the letter g are written only
in German, and from the 16th century almost exclusively forms with the
letter g are found in Slavic. This can be explained by the fact that
among the Germans who moved to the Baltics, the German Saxon dialect
prevailed, in which g and j were confused and replaced each other in the
14th and 15th centuries. Therefore, the form of Kretinga could have
turned into Kretinje or Kretene. The suffix -ing- clearly appeared in
the 16th century. at the end, when the Kretingi dialect was formed.
Another interpretation of the name is given by the legend, which
says that the Goth king Armon, who founded Kretinga, arrived in the 4th
century. from Scandinavia and built a castle here. He came from the
Gruting family - the name of the city could have been formed from the
name of this family.
in 1609 LDK hetman and elder of Žemaitija
Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius named the town in his honor when granting the
right of Magdeburg, but the name Karolstadt (German: Karolstadt -
"Karol's city") did not catch on.
in 1774 6th grade school was established in 1793. transferred to Telšias; a two-class (actually four-class) parochial school operated in 1836. transformed into a government office, since 1864 taught in Russian, 1910 a government primary school for girls was opened. 1920-1932 pro-gymnasium was active. in 1932 Kretinga Franciscan High School was opened, since 1940 Kretinga state high school, since 1950. secondary school, since 1998 Kretinga Franciscan High School again.
Kretinga Jurgis Pabreža University Gymnasium
Kretinga Marijonas
Daujotas primary school
Kretinga Simon Daukant secondary school
Private Franciscan high school of Kretinga
Kretinga Marija
Tiškevičiūtė school
Kretinga adult and youth training center
Kretinga Technology and Business School (Kretingsodi)
Kretinga art
school
Kretinga sports school
Children's education center
Cultural center of Kretinga district
Motiejs Valančius public library
of Kretinga district municipality
Kretinga Museum.
Schools-nurseries-kindergartens
Nursery-kindergarten "Fairy tale"
Nursery-kindergarten "Ažuoliukas"
Nursery school "Žilvitis"
Nursery school "Eglutė"
School-kindergarten "Žibutė"
The
newspapers "Pajūrios novíenos" (since 1993), "Švyturys" (since 1944) are
published.
Since 1953 the city stadium of Kretinga is standing, 2020 – Sports
and wellness center.
Football
Kretinga F.K. "Minija" -
football club founded in 2017.
Kretingos "Minija" - former football
club (1962-2016).
Kretingos "Kretingos Grūdai" also known as KKT
football club, plays in the Third League.
FK Kretinga
FK Minija-2
Kretinga
FK Minija-3 Kretinga
Motoball
Motobolo club
"Milda" of Kretinga is a multiple prize-winner of the Belarusian open
motobolo championship (silver medals in 2009, 2010 and 2011). Former
team names - "Lighthouse", "Žemūktechnika", "Uotas" (prize winners and
winners of USSR championships).
During the Soviet era, there was the "Laisvės" woolen fabric factory, the "Akmenas" folk consumer goods company, famous for children's wooden toys, and a Soviet technical farm. in 1990 May 10 oil extraction began near Kretinga. There are electrical networks, developed wood processing, production of wood products, fodder and their additives (the company "Kretingas grūdai"), breeding of foxes and sheep (Kretinga's animal husbandry farm), fish processing ("Ostsee Fish Kretinga"); construction companies "Edija" and "Ringesta". etc