Palanga is a seaside resort in the South Curonian region of Megowe in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea around 20 km north of the district capital Klaipėda (German Memel) and around 300 km northwest of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. In a northerly direction it is less than 20 km to the Latvian border. Along with the Curonian Spit, Palanga is one of the centers of Lithuanian tourism - with hotels, campsites and a long beach promenade with a pier. Palanga is a city (Lithuanian miestas) and a municipality (Lithuanian miesto savivaldybė). The municipality also includes the town of Šventoji with the port of Šventoji, which forms an administrative district of the same name.
Architectural monuments
Villa "Annapilis", built around 1898.
Villa "Jūros akis", around 1900
in 1827 a pharmacy was founded (head:
Old Pharmacy).
The surviving Palanga manor (a cultural monument since
2008). It is the Neo-Renaissance style Tiškevičius Palace, built in
1897. according to the project of the German architect F. Švechten. Now
the Palanga Amber Museum is located in the palace. There is a botanical
park near the manor (designed by the French architect Eduard Andre and
the Belgian dendrologist Beisen de Colon), the Birutė mountain chapel
(second half of the 19th century) is located in the park.
Palanga St.
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a neo-Gothic church
with a 76 m high tower (1897-1907, Swedish architect K.E. Strandman.
Marble interior - French sculptor Mona).
Palanga Old Church.
Kurhaus
in 1877 after Count J. Tiškevičius purchased a plot on the
left bank of the Ronžė stream, a plan of the actual state of the town
and a project development plan of the town were prepared. The current J.
Basanavičiaus street is also marked in it. towards the sea bridge,
crossing the Ronžė stream along the Klaipėda - Liepoja road, the planned
park. The territory of the park with several free-standing buildings in
it is also depicted in the 20th century. in the plan of the summer
residence and the southern part of the town. About 1877 Liepaja road and
road. A one-story brick building was built on the corner of J.
Basanavičiaus street, where the restaurant "Casino" was established,
which became the beginning of the Kurhaus (resort house in German). in
1880 The Kurhaus building was expanded until 1905. the second floor was
delivered, a linden avenue was planted. 1909-1914 a new southern body of
the building was built next to the old Kurhaus, both buildings are
connected. The plans of the northern and southern hulls have remained
almost unchanged to this day. The middle hull plan has changed the most.
In the western facade of the building in 1940 the verandas were removed,
and a one-story extension was built in their place. 1971-1976 The
Kurhaus has been reconstructed, the interior layout and interior have
been changed. in 2002 in September, the building was destroyed by fire,
since 2012 restoration work has begun. The construction of the brick
part has already been completed. The wooden part of the Kurhaus is
currently being rebuilt. It is planned to be completed by 2020. the end
Other buildings
Church of the Icon of the Mother of God
"Iverskaja" in Palanga
Palanga concert hall
Savickos picture
gallery, operating during the summer on S. Darius and S. Girėnos streets
Palanga Observatory
"Naglis" is the resort's only cinema
Sculptures
It has been operating in the city since 1982. the Palanga
Sculpture Park was established, which contains the works of Kazios
Kisieliaus, Broniaus Vyšniauskas, Leonas Vytautas Striogas and other
Lithuanian sculptors (about 100 years south of the Summer Stage).
The most famous sculptures of Palanga, which have become symbols of
the city:
"Blessing Christ" (circa 1907, demolished in 1948, rebuilt
in 1993)
"Eglė snake queen" (Robertas Antinis, 1960)
"Jūratė and
Kastytis" (Nijolė Gaigalaitė, 1959–1961)
Šventoja - "Fisherman's
Daughters" (1982, author Zuzana Pranaitytė)
Museums
Amber
Museum, opened in 1963. August 3 in the former Palanga mansion. 15
halls, 4500 exhibits.
The house-museum of the sculptor and painter
Antanas Mončis, opened in 1999. July 10 There are about 200 works of the
author.
Memorial homestead of Jonas Šliūpas, the first mayor of
Palanga.
Insectarium, the only specialized arthropod zoo in
Lithuania. Opened in 2014 on June 21, has about 200 live exhibits,
exotic arthropods.
By plane
Planes arriving from cities in different countries land
at Palanga International Airport: Moscow, Riga, Copenhagen, Oslo. The
airport is located 10 minutes by car from the city of Palanga and 30
minutes from Klaipeda.
By train
Palanga does not have direct
railway connections with other cities. The nearest large railway station
is in Klaipeda. From Vilnius you usually arrive by train 4.5 hours to
Klaipeda, from where minibuses or buses depart directly from the station
square to Palanga every 20 minutes.
By car
By bus
Palanga
has a well-established bus service, both suburban, intercity and
international. Between the bus stations of Palanga, Klaipeda (25 km) and
Kretinga (12 km) commuter buses and minibuses run at intervals of 20
minutes. Intercity flights to Palanga are operated from the cities of
Vilnius, Kaunas and Siauliai. International flights have been
established from Moscow, Kaliningrad, Riga, Liepaja.
Răžės stream flows through the city towards the west, over which as
many as 10 bridges and bridges have been built. The western edge of the
city is washed by the Baltic Sea, there are many beaches here. In the
north of the city, in the Šventoji settlement, the Šventoji river flows
into the Baltija. On the southern edge is the settlement of Nemirsetas,
the ethnographic Anaitčiai cemetery. The Pajūris Regional Park begins
south of Nemirseta.
From a natural point of view, the most
interesting stretch of seashore, about 200 m wide, includes strips of
beaches, sand dunes and coastal pine forest. The two most famous dunes
of Palanga are Birutė mountain and Naglio mountain.
Palanga
municipality settlements (from the center of Palanga):
Šventoji
(about 12 km to the north)
Butinge (about 14 km to the north)
Kunigiškai (about 5 km to the north)
Monciškė (about 9 km to the
north)
Nemirseta (about 3 km south)
Climate
The city has a
maritime climate (windy and quite a lot of precipitation). However, in
1994 July and 2002 in August, there was no precipitation in the city at
all (0.0 mm).
The name of the city is probably of Curonian origin, so thought the
linguist Kazimieras Būga. The main argument is the suffix -ng-, which is
especially characteristic of Curonian place names (Gandinga, Ablinga,
Būtingė, etc.). The root of the name was probably pal- and is associated
with the landscape of lowlands or swamps, for example lit. palios -
"large swamps, clearings at the place of closed lakes", lat. palas -
"swampy lake shore", paleja - "lowland, valley", pali - "flood,
overflow". These are ancient words that have equivalents in other
Indo-European languages as well: Dacian pala - "mud, swamp, swamp",
Latin palus - "ball" etc. So the original meaning of Palanga's name
could be related to lowlands, swamps, flooded meadows or similar
concepts.
The place name is also associated with the river names
Palanga, Palangis, Alanga, Langa. There are versions that the name of
the city of Palanga could have been derived from the name of the river -
perhaps Palanga or Langa was previously called Răžė or its tributary has
disappeared.
Folk etymology tells us that the name of Palanga
could have come from the word palangė - as if fishermen's houses once
stood so close to the sea that the waves and sand even reached the
windowsills of the houses.
The first inhabitants settled in the territory of present-day Palanga
in the 3rd thousand. Ave. m. e.
10th century A Scandinavian trade
center was established and flourished in Palanga, which also
participated in Scandinavian trade with Eastern countries. Arab coins,
scales and weights typical of merchants' graves were found in its
burials. 11th century Palanga acquired the characteristics of an early
city. For the first time, Palanga was mentioned in the description of
1161. after the events in the Danish chronicle, when the Danes
supposedly occupied the Palanga castle and even established a bishopric,
but the authenticity of this story is questionable. 12th century At the
end of the 19th century, the Palanga shopping center fell into
disrepair, which coincided with the general decline of Curonian culture.
The settlement is mentioned in the agreement between the Livonian Order
and Curonian Spit in 1253. April 5 (as in Palanga). This date is
mentioned as the date of the foundation of Palanga. Until the 15th
century At the end of the 20th century, there was a pillar observatory
in Palanga on the Birutė mountain to follow the movement of the Sun and
the Moon and to manage the calendar.
Palanga was occupied several
times by the Livonian and Teutonic Orders. The Palanga section was
strategically important in order to connect the Prussian and Livonian
parts of the Order by land. This aspiration was not destined to come
true, after the Battle of Žalgiris, the Order was expelled from
Žemaitija, and in 1435 December 31 The Peace of Brasta finally assigned
Palanga to the LDK. It is believed that in Palanga in the 15th century a
small colony of the old inhabitants, the Curses, still remained. Later,
the Curonian ethnos disappeared, it was replaced by the Zemaitians who
rose up from the neighboring lands and the Curonians, the descendants of
the Curonians.
XV-XVII centuries. Palanga was the most important
port in Lithuania, whose residents were engaged in fishing, collecting
amber, and trading with other ports (see Palanga port). XVI-XVII
centuries. was the center of the precinct, from 1547 mentioned as a
town, 1529-1562. was on the list of non-privileged cities of the LDK.
16th century Palanga church was built at the end. 1600 it is allowed to
hold one weekly market and two annual fairs. Trade privileges were later
extended. in 1667 the village of Palanga is mentioned. During the
Northern War, supplies needed to supply the Saxon army were stored in
Palanga, as a result of which in 1701 in July, the Swedish army occupied
Palanga, demolished and stoned the port. At the same time, the port of
Šventoji was also destroyed. 18th century port reconstruction projects
were created several times, but they were not realized. 18th century At
the end of the year, Palanga became a private property - the king
transferred it to S. Masalski. In 1791 (or 1792), the Four-Year Seimas
granted Palanga, as a royal city, the rights of Magdeburg
(self-government was introduced, but privileges were not received). in
1794 during the Kosciuszko Uprising, it was occupied by the rebels.
After the Third Partition of the Republic of Both Nations, Palanga was
assigned to the Vilnius Governorate, and in 1819 with its surroundings
is connected to the Curonian Spit. This was requested by the local
nobles, and perhaps the German merchants of Courland, to facilitate the
journey to Germany.
Since the 18th century sources of the end of
the century begin to mention therapeutic baths in Palanga. 19th century
in the beginning Palanga became famous as a summer resort. in 1823 100
homesteads are listed in Palanga. in 1824 Palanga was bought by the
colonel of the tsarist army, Count Mykolas Juozapas Tiškevičius. He
renovated the port, built an oak bridge where ships moored, and a new
palace. in 1831 during the uprising on May 10-13. the battle of Palanga
took place in the city between the rebels and the army of the Russian
Empire, many houses were burned. During the press ban, Lithuanian press
was transported through Palanga. in 1888 established resort. Since 1891
Palanga manor belonged to Mykolas Tiškevičius' son Feliks Tiškevičius.
Since 1892 the bridge to the sea is intended only for vacationers'
walks. in 1899 August 20 the first Lithuanian play (Keturakis' "America
in the bathhouse") was staged in the garden near the bridge. 19th
century a rectangular street plan was formed, at the end of the century
Palanga is mentioned as a private town and estate in Gruobinia county.
After World War I until 1921 March 30 city belonged to Latvia,
according to the border demarcation agreement it was transferred to
Lithuania together with Šventāja. The state border dispute was resolved
by a commission led by Scottish diplomat James Young Simpson. Simpson
street in Palanga is named after the diplomat.
Before the Second
World War, a considerable part of Palanga's population consisted of
Jews. in 1897 In Palanga, out of 2149 inhabitants, 925 were Jews (43% of
the total population). Jews engaged in traditional businesses: they
traded, had craft workshops. 20th century at the beginning and between
the wars, a total of about 10 amber shops and workshops operated, most
of them owned by Jews. In addition, Jews in Palanga started resort
businesses (rentals, clinics, pensions). in 1933 After Palanga was
granted city rights, 11 persons of Jewish nationality were elected as
members of the council. In Palanga, the Jews had established a small
credit bank, a Hebrew elementary school, a cheder (religious school),
and there were synagogues. The Jewish residential quarter was almost
completely destroyed in 1938. a big fire broke out.
In 1933,
Palanga received second-tier city rights. – city and resort rights. in
1935 January 31 Palanga beach, which until then belonged to Count F.
Tiškevičius, became the property of the whole of Lithuania. in 1938 May
10 the city was devastated by a big fire, after which about 1.5 thousand
residents were left without shelter, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Palanga burned down. Almost half of the city was destroyed during the
Second World War. June 27 Nazis killed about 105 Jews and 6 Lithuanians
of the town. Another 200-300 Jews, women and children, mostly from
Palanga, were shot in the forest near the current Palanga quarry. The
Red Army occupied Palanga in 1945. At the end of January, the Soviets
nationalized many villas and houses.
in 1946 August 3 became a
city under the county in 1951. July 3 Palanga became a subordinate city
of Klaipėda region in 1953. - a city under republican control. 1947-1951
to carry out the deportations of Palanga residents. in 1952 granted the
status of a resort - the resort operated all year round, the villages of
Užkanavė, Vanagupė, Kunigiškės, Virbališkės were connected. Palanga was
developed according to 1954 (architect B. Revzinas and others), 1959
(architects P. Janulis, V. Stauskas, etc.), 1972 (architects J.
Vaškevičius, N. Urmonienė, etc.), 1986–1991 (architects J. Vaškevičius,
S. Motieka, etc.) general plans. in 1967 October 17-18 a severe
hurricane ravaged the coast of Palanga, broke the bridge of Palanga.
According to 1973-1975 5 settlements have been connected to the Palanga
expansion project (Vanagupė, Kunigiškiai, Monciškė, Nemirseta,
Šventoji).
in 1991 most sanatoriums and rest houses were
privatized. in 1996 the coat of arms of Palanga is approved. Palanga was
elected in 2013. in the cultural capital of Lithuania.