Explore Panevėžys

From a crayfish legend to Lithuania’s theatre and ceramics capital – five centuries of Panevėžys on one page.

1. 1414

   A sanctuary in the forest

   Legend says Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, riding from Samogitia to Vilnius, found an alka – a sanctuary of the old Lithuanian religion – where Panevėžys stands today. Nothing documents it, but every local knows the story.

2. Legend

   “Pani, vėžys!”

   Another local tale explains the name: while Vytautas’ wife Anna bathed in the Nevėžis, her startled servant shouted “Pani, vėžys!” – “Madam, a crayfish!” (vėžys in Lithuanian). In fact the name simply means “along the Nevėžis”.

3. 7 Sept 1503

   The city is founded

   Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon allows a church and other buildings to be built here – the first written record of Panevėžys. Alexander is honoured as the founder; for the 500th anniversary in 2003 the city raised two monuments, one of them to him. The old Panevėžys mound stood where the Sirupis stream meets the Nevėžis.

4. 1500s

   A royal town of many peoples

   Panevėžys keeps the status of a royal town. Polish and Karaite communities had settled nearby as early as the 14th century – a Karaite kenesa and a Polish gymnasium existed until the Second World War. The town grows onto the left bank of the river.

5. 1727

   The Piarists arrive

   The Piarist order builds the Church of the Holy Trinity, a monastery and a college in the western part of town – the oldest church still standing in Panevėžys.

   

6. 1791–1843

   Self-government and empire

   1791: the town may elect its own council. 1795: after the Third Partition it falls to the Vilna Governorate (from 1843 Kovno). 1800: a town hall; 1825: a Lutheran church; 1841: an Orthodox parish. Townspeople take part in the 1831 and 1863 uprisings.

   

7. 1800s

   The first Lithuanian-language school

   The Panevėžys Teachers’ Seminary becomes the first school in the Russian Empire to teach the Lithuanian language officially.

8. 1880–1905

   Factories, banks and book smugglers

   The first factories, banks and shops make Panevėžys the fourth most important city in Lithuania. It is also a hub for knygnešiai – the book smugglers who defied the ban on Lithuanian print. 1880: Naftalis Feigenzonas opens the first printing house; 1905: Juozas Masiulis opens the first Lithuanian bookshop – still open today.

   

9. 27 Mar 1919

   Liberated

   Lithuanian volunteers free the city from the Bolsheviks during the Wars of Independence and raise the Lithuanian flag.

10. 1919–1939

    Between the wars

    Panevėžys grows from 19,147 people (1923) to about 26,200. More than a third are Jewish – in Yiddish the town is Ponevezh. The famous Ponevezh Yeshiva flourishes under Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, who later rebuilt it in Bnei Brak, Israel, where it still exists.

    

11. 1940–1941

    Occupation and deportation

    On 15 June 1940 the Red Army takes the city. In the June 1941 deportations more than 600 residents are sent to Siberia. During the June Uprising of 1941 a Lithuanian staff under Lt Col Antanas Stapulionis briefly takes control of the city.

12. 1941–1944

    The Holocaust

    Under Nazi occupation almost the entire Jewish community of Panevėžys is murdered – 7,523 people in August 1941 alone. A few survivors escape abroad.

13. 1944–1956

    Soviet rule and resistance

    The Soviet army returns, followed by new deportations. Partisans of the Vytis military district fight on in the forests around Panevėžys until 1956.

14. 1960–1990

    The industrial city

    Factories such as Ekranas turn Panevėžys into an industrial centre: 41,000 people in 1959, 101,500 by 1979. Part of the old town is demolished until protests stop it. On 11 March 1990 Lithuania restores independence.

15. Today

    Theatre, ceramics and industry

    Lithuania’s fifth-largest city is known for the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre, the world-class ceramics of the Civic Art Gallery, the narrow-gauge railway and its industrial heritage – and for things you won’t find anywhere else.