THE ZEIMELIS WOODS.
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Area 1630
hectares. Ash groves make 42%, birch groves make 28%, asp
groves make 10%, fir groves make 9%,
alder groves make 10%, pine groves
make 1%. There are many large hoofed
animals. It is the largest forest in
Lithuania where ash groves prevail.
ZEIMELIS.
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A small town
in Pakruojis region, 24 kilometers to the east of Joniskis,
4 kilometers from the Latvian border,
a center of a country-side district,
the central settlement of the kolkhoz
"Komunaras"[Communard].
1302 residents (in 1987). Berztalis
(a left tributary of the Yslykis) flows
through Zeimelis. Roads to Kriukai,
Bauske (Latvia), Salociai, Linkuva.
A mill, a repairs workshop of agricultural
machinery, a forestry, a center
of everyday services, a post-office,
an out-patients department (since 1947);
in 1947-62 there were also a hospital
and maternity home), a chemist's shop
(since 1860), a secondary school (since
1945), a secondary vocational
technical school (since 1951), a zone
cultural center (founded in 1956), a
library (since 1944). Monuments of
culture: 2 historical (a burial-ground of
Soviet soldiers grave of a local ethnographer
Juozas Sliavas),10
archaeological (the Zeimelis burial-ground
and a mound, 8 stones with
hollows), 1 monument of architecture
and one urbanistic monument,
3 monuments of art (in the church).
An archaeological find was a stone
grinded axe with a tapered butt (in
the public museum).
ARCHITECTURE.
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The old part of Zeimelis is one of the most original urbanistic
monuments of Lithuania; it is protected
by the state; a network of
streets plan of the square and volumetric
spatial composition, a
narrow crossing of streets at the north-eastern
corner of the
square, the way of building the town
fragments of the building and a
view. The plan of the town is rectangular
(it became such after the
reconstruction in the middle of the
17th century; till then the plan
of the central part was radial; elements
of that plan are
left). Volumetric spatial composition
formed virtually till the end of
the 19th century. At the crossroad
of 4 main streets there is a
rectangular square. To the South from
it there are Catholic (1828)
and Evangelical-Lutheran (built in
1786-93,broadened in 1889-90)
churches. There are buildings of regional
architecture that are
characteristic to the north-western
Lithuania. Prospects of the
streets converging to the center are
closed; there are many trees in
the square and streets. A monument
of architecture an ensemble of two
former taverns: the classical Big tavern
and the Little tavern, built
in folk architecture style (both were
built in the 2nd half of the
18th century-beginning of the 19th
century, restored in 1985).
HISTORY.
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Zeimelis was
mentioned in 1500 (there was an estate). It originated
at the Ziemgaliai [a Baltic tribe]
mound. In 1540 there was built an
Evangelical-Lutheran church and about
1595-an Evangelical-Reformist
church; in 1592-1674 there was an Evangelical-Reformist
school (reha-
bilitated in 1866). In 1542 a borough
was mentioned, in 1586-a small
rural district. About 1600 a department
of Kaunas custom-house was
established; in 1613 a privilege of
2 [yearly] fairs was granted. In
1828 a Catholic church was built. In
1866 or 1867 a governmental
primary school was founded (since 1907
there were 2 classes). In 1888
Zeimelis was on fire. From the end
of the 19th century to 1915
Zeimelis was a center of Nociunai rural
district, from 1919 to 1950
a center of Zeimelis rural district.
In 1905 Vincas Kapsukas [a
Lithuanian communist leader] lived
here and organized strikes of
agricultural workers in the district.
At the end of 1918 a rural
district revolutionary committee of
Lithuanian Communist Party was
organized and a rural district council
was elected. in 1917 a narrow-
gauge railway was built (disjoined
after the World War II). In 1920-
29,1931-35 (and later on till 1945)
there was a Progymnasium [not full
gymnasium,4-6 classes]. In 1937 there
was established a winter
agricultural school. In 1931-37 there
was a Latvian secondary school.
In 1941-42 Hitlerites
(Lithuanian Collaborators) killed many inhabitants
of Zeimelis. In 1754 there were 52
families; in 1780 there were 258,
in 1897 there were 1266, in 1923 [there
were] in the town 1209 in the
estate 95, in 1959 in the town 1098,
in 1970-1325, in 1979-1679 residents.
Literature: Zeimelis//Tarybu Lietuvos
Enciklopedija,1988 |