Everything about Palanga totally explained
Palanga is a seaside
resort town in western
Lithuania, the
capital of
Palanga city municipality. Situated on the shore of the
Baltic Sea it's the busiest Lithuanian summer resort with beautiful sand beaches (18 km long and in some places about 300 m wide), dunes and an unspoilt natural environment.
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Myth
According to a legend, there was a pagan shrine at the foot of a hill during the 14th century. That shrine was where a beautiful priestess named
Birutė used to light ceremonial fires. Having heard about Birutė,
Kęstutis, the
Grand Duke of Lithuania, rode over on his horse to take her for his wife. It is written in the Lithuanian
Bychowiec Chronicle(External Link) that Birutė "did not want to agree, and answered that she'd promised the gods to guard her virginity as long as she lived. Kęstutis took her by force, and with great honor took her back to his capital of
Trakai, where he invited his brothers and threw a big wedding...". After Kęstutis' murder, Birutė returned to Palanga and served the Gods until she died. She is buried in the hill which is now named in her honor.
History
Not far from
Šventoji(External Link), archaeologists have come across a campground which suggests that the area was inhabited some 5,000 years ago. During the 10th and 11th centuries Palanga had been one of the main settlements of Mēguva Land, inhabited by the
Curonian tribe, the center of trade and crafts.
In historical documents the name of Palanga was first mentioned in 1161 when the King
Valdemar I of Denmark disembarked there with his army and captured the castle which was held by the Curonians.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the inhabitants of Palanga had to militarily confront the
Teutonic Knights in the south and the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword in the north. Their adversaries were unable to achieve their goal of seizing the Lithuanian sea-coast from
Klaipėda to Šventoji. Although Klaipėda (Memel) passed into the hands of the German feudal lords under the 1422
Treaty of Melno, Palanga and Šventoji remained under Lithuanian control. The two towns gradually developed into significant harbours and centers of trade. British merchants established enterprises in Šventoji in 1685. During the
Great Northern War, the
Swedish Army ravaged Palanga, destroyed the harbour at Šventoji, and blocked up the wharfs with rocks in 1701.
Palanga was purchased in 1824 by
Count Michał Tyszkiewicz. His grandson Józef Tyszkiewicz built a pier and acquired a ship to transport passengers and bricks to nearby
Liepāja. Palanga began to develop as a resort in the early 19th century. The pier has been a favourite spot for strolling and promenading since
1892. Józef Tyszkiewicz's son,
Feliks Tyszkiewicz, built a
neo-renaissance palace in
1897. Famous
French landscape architect Édouard André designed a large park around the palace, constructed in 1897-1907. The palace became a favourite gathering place for intellectual discussions and concert performances. Prominent among the good friends and advisors of Feliks Tyszkiewicz was the notary,
Jonas Kentra.
Following the 1864 ban on the printing of Lithuanian books and newspapers in Latin characters, Palanga had become an important point for the
smuggling of Lithuanian publications. Rev.
Marcijonas Jurgaitis, physician
Liudas Vaineikis and Notary
Jonas Kentra played leading roles in this action of cultural contraband. They organized an extensive network of smuggling and dissemination of the clandestine press. With Kentra gaining official approvals, a public gathering in 1899 featured the comedy Amerika pirtyje (America in the Bath) performed in Lithuanian. Unfortunately, the Tsarist authorities stepped in with
Vaineikis and twenty-five people were punished by deportation to Siberia in 1901.
The Tyszkiewicz palace park was converted into a
botanical garden in 1960 and today it has two hundred different types of trees and shrubs, including an oak tree planted by President
Antanas Smetona. The palace, now the
Palanga Amber Museum, has an extensive collection of amber jewelry and other artifacts. Symphony performances are conducted in the summer, usually in the evening. It is a very popular place for relaxation with delightful walks behind the dunes and through the park.
Location
Palanga is a resort town through which the
Šventoji River and Rąžė (
Samogitian:
Ronžē) rivers flow into the
Baltic Sea. Palanga municipality extends from Nemirsėta in the south to the
Latvian border in the north. The center of the 24
kilometer length of sea - coast is Old Palanga. Palanga is historically subdivided to Nemirsėta, Vanagupė, Kunigiškiai, Manciškiai, and Šventoji - five neighboring fishermen villages which were incorporated into the city after an administrative reform. When Palanga was part of Germany, Nemirsėta was the northernmost village of that country.
Places of interest
During the summer, hordes of tourists descend on Palanga, both for the beach and the seaside carnival centered on
J. Basanavičius Street, which is a pedestrian thoroughfare during the summer months. There are dozens of restaurants, bars, rides, sideshows, and other entertainment, most featuring bright lights, loud music, and thousands of people on the weekends. The previously-mentioned Amber Museum is located within an extensive botanical garden.
There is one of the oldest still working drugstores in Lithuania, established in the mid-19th century. The city is home to a regional radio station, FM Palanga.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Palanga'.
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