Page 267 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

CENTR AL LITHU ANIA  265

+ Raudondvaris
5 km (3 miles) W of Kaunas. @ from
Kaunas. ∑ raudondvariodvaras.lt
Built by the crusaders in the
14th century, Raudondvaris
(Red Manor) became a part of
Lithuania after the Battle of
Grünwald (1410). The legend
says that it was presented as a
gift in 1549, by Sigismund
August to Barbora Radvilaitė, a
year before their marriage. After
her death in 1551, the castle fell
into ruin and was rebuilt as a
manor house in the 17th century Merchants’ houses lining the square of the Old Town, Kėdainiai
by the Tyszkiewicz family. Its
library and collection of reassembled. The rolling country- Its colourful Old Town has a
paintings were lost during side overlooking Lake Kaunas series of elaborately gabled
World War I. A chapel close by creates a perfect backdrop. merchants’ houses in the main
contains the Tyszkiewicz tombs square. Close by, the Renaissance-
that survived the 20th century. R Zapyškis Church style Town Hall dates from 1654
15 km (9 miles) W of town. and holds Kėdainiai’s admin-
One of Lithuania’s loveliest istrative offices. In another
buildings, the triangular red- square, two synago gues dating
brick Gothic Zapyškis Church from 1837 stand side by side.
is set in a field by the They were once used by the
Nemunas river. Built in the town’s thriving Jewish commu-
16th century, it has remained nity. Another synagogue, now
miraculously intact despite the Multicultural Centre, holds
inva sions and occupations. a museum on Kėdainiai’s
cultural history.
e Kėdainiai Environs
Paberžė, 30 km (19 miles)
Road Map D5. * 54,000. £ from
A red manor with mani cured lawns Kaunas, Vilnius. @ from Kaunas, Vilnius. north of Kėdainiai, with its
at Raudondvaris n Didžiosios rinkos 6, (347) 56 900. delightful wooden church,
_ Cucumber Festival (Jul), Broma was the residence of Father
R Pažaislis Monastery Jazz Festival (Aug), Ice Cream Festival Stanislovas (1918–2005), a
7 km (4 miles) E of town. Tel (37) 458 (Aug). ∑ kedainiutvic.lt revered Tolstoyan hermit and
868. Open 10am– 5pm Tue–Fri, Capuchin friar.
10am–4pm Sat. With a history as a trading town
One of Eastern Europe’s great on the route between Kaunas E Multicultural Centre
Baroque monuments, Pažaislis and Rīga, Kėdainiai was first men- Senoji rinka 12. Tel (347) 51 778.
Monastery and its central, cupola- tioned in written sources in 1372. Open 10am–5pm Tue–Sat. &
domed Church of the Visitation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary were M K Čiurlionis (1875–1911)
constructed by Italian architects
in the 17th century. There is finely A tortured soul and artistic genius, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis is
detailed stucco work inside the Lithuania’s most famous painter and composer. He started out as a
church and in the corri dors of the prodigious composer of atmospheric sym phonic and organ works, but
monastery, much of it framing at the age of 27 he began to study drawing. The next nine years were
intricate frescoes painted by the filled with feverish creativity.
Italian artist Michelangelo Palloni. Before his early death from
pneumonia, he had created
around 300 works of music,
E Rumšiškės Open-Air
Museum painting and poetry. Many of his
mystical paintings mirrored his
L Lekavičiaus 2, 15 km (9 miles) E of musical compositions and some
town. Tel (346) 47 392. Open May–Sep: were named as pieces of music,
10am–6pm daily; Oct–Apr: 10am– such as Spring Sonata (1907) and
4pm (park only). & 8 7 ∑ llbm.lt Funeral Symphony (1903). Despite
At Rumšiškės Open-Air Museum, their melancholy, Čiurlionis’s
traditional thatched farmsteads painted and musical works can be Painting by Čiurlionis, displayed at the
and other ele ments of village surprisingly uplifting. M K Čiurlionis Art Museum
life have been carefully
Trakai’s fairytale castle, an island stronghold

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