Kaunas tourist information

At the location of the current Kaunas old town, at the confluence of two large rivers, there was a settlement as far back as the tenth century BC. According to legend, the town was founded in 1030, but it is first mentioned in written sources in 1361. In the thirteenth century, a stone wall was built for protection from constant raids by the Teutonic Knights. In 1362, the town was captured by the Teutonic Knights, who destroyed the Kaunas Castle, but it was recaptured in 1404.

In 1408 the town was chartered with Magdeburg Rights by Vytautas the Great. The castle was rebuilt at the beginning of the 15th century. Kaunas then started to grow as an important city at trade route intersections and as a river port. In 1441 Kaunas joined the Hansa and Hansa merchant offices opened. Already in the 16th century Kaunas had a public school, a hospital, a drugstore and was one of the best formed towns in Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The 17th and 18th centuries were unfortunate for Kaunas. In 1665 the Russian army attacked the city several times. In 1701 the city was occupied by the Swedish army, and also suffered from plagues in 1657 and 1708, and fires in 1731 and 1732. After the final partition of the Polish-Lithuanian state in 1795 the city was occupied by Russia. In 1812 the Grand Army of Napoleon was crossing the Nemunas, so the city was twice devastated that year.

During the Partitions it was one of the centres of the November Uprising (1830-1831) and the January Uprising (1863-1864). To prevent further problems with the local population, the Russia|Russian authorities placed a huge military garrison in the town. The Russian military fortifications from that time still survive throughout the town.

In 1862 a railway connecting the Russian Empire and Germany was constructed, making Kaunas a significant railway hub. In 1898 the first power plant started operating. After Vilnius was occupied by Russian bolsheviks in 1919, the government of the Republic of Lithuania established its main offices here. Later, when capital city Vilnius was seized by Poland, Kaunas became the seat of the Lithuanian government (officially styled temporary capital) until 1940, when the country was occupied by the Soviet Union and the capital was returned to Vilnius.

Between the World Wars industry prospered in Kaunas, as it was the largest city in Lithuania. In 1940 it was annexed by the Soviet Union into the Lithuanian SSR. The Jewish population of Kaunas, 37,000 people, was attacked by anti-Communist Lithuanian partisans, killing 3,800 people, some of these massacres were even filmed. Under German occupation 1941-1944 most of the remaining Jewish population was confined in the Kaunas Ghetto (also known as the Kauen concentration camp), and many were shot at the Ninth Fort. Only 3,000 or so Jews survived the war. After World War II Kaunas became the main industrial city of Lithuania - it produced about a quarter of Lithuania's industrial output. After the proclamation of Lithuanian independence in 1991, Soviet attempts to suppress the rebellion focused on the television and radio transmitters in Sitkunai, which were a critical part of the remaining free media. They were protected by the ordinary people, who came to their defence, despite the risk of harm.