Tue 7th Oct 2008
- Kaunas Travel Guide & City Information
Best city in Lithuania
Kaunas is 80 km west of Vilius. It is the second city of the country and according to most Lithanians the most Lithanian city of all.
The most attractive part of the city is the old Centre, the area around the Town Hall. The old centre is located between two rivers, the Neris and the Nemunas. on the Town Hall square there are quite a few old merchant houses dating from the 16-th century, but the Town Hall itself is the most impressive structure.
Northeast of here the Cathedral dates from the times of Vytautas the Great, but most of what you see now is from the 18-th century. Northwest of the Townhall square are the remains of the Kaunas Castle. There are a few walls left and part of a tower but with a bit of imagination you can see the Tuetonic Knights storming the walls.
The new town is east from the old town. The Laisves aleja, or Freedom Avenue is a big pedestrianized shopping street that runs right through it. At the end of Freedom Avenue you find the Church of St.Michael the Archangel whcih looms over Nepriklasomybes Aikste (independance square). Also on the sqaure is the Mykolas Zilinkas Art Museum which has one of the best collections in the Baltic States.
A rather curious museum is the Devil's Museum officially known as the A. Zmuidzinavicius Art Museum. It houses a big collection of devil figures, including a represantation of Hitler and Stalin dancing aroudn a heap of lithanian skulls.
Before WWII Kaunas had a large Jewish population. Just out of town are Vijampole the old Jewish getto -als known as Slobodka- and the Ninth Fort Museum where the jews were kept by the Nazis while awaiting execution.
Also there is faculty of Medicine and other higher educational institutions were students from around the globe come to study.