At the beginning of the 17th century the Polish chronicler, Alessandro Guagnini, referred to Kaunas as a “stone town”. The town brickyard was primarily required for the construction of the town communal buildings, and the remaining bricks were also sold to townspeople for the construction of private houses. The town brickyard worked all the time, although the magistrate’s attention depended on the demands of the town. When the scale of construction work diminished, the brickyard was neglected. Just as in the 16th century, in the 18th century the magistrate once again put efforts into renovating the existing brickyard and the establishment of a new brickyard due to the construction and...
Kaunas old town was devastated by fires many times, but the fires of 1732 and 1801 were most memorable for the losses they incurred. The rules of fire protection were tightened in the 8th decade of the 18th century. The changes did not originate from Kaunas town council, but were initiated by orders of state institutions and Seimas laws, and also by the incitement from the army headquarters stationed in Kaunas. The changes started with the tightened laws for saunas, breweries and bakeries, and requirements for chimneys and a fire fighting inventory. The magistrate wasn’t successful in implementing the new rules and the townspeople’s attitude remained lenient. The first orders by the Russian...
The frequency of visits of Lithuanian Grand Dukes to Kaunas depended on the purpose of their trips. Vytautas the Great (1392-1430) visited Kaunas the most of all the Lithuanian Grand Dukes. His exceptional attention for Kaunas was determined by the ruler’s importance in governing the Lithuanian Grand Duchy and the Duchy’s strained relations with the German Order. Soon the strain in the relations eased, and because of the state reforms, the state administration took over the ruler’s duties of solving clashes between his subjects. Thus, the ruler’s consideration in regard to Kaunas diminished. During their visits to Kaunas the rulers stayed at Kaunas castle. Despite the visits of Lithuanian...
The Kaunas customs house opened in the 15th century. The customs houses did not belong to the town, but were rented state institutions at that time. The customs house activities enlivened the trade in Kaunas and also protected local townspeople from the competing foreign merchants. Thus, the customs house was beneficial to Kaunas townspeople. In the middle of the 18th century, the privately rented customs house was transferred from Kaunas to Jurbarkas, and thus Kaunas townspeople requested the return of the customs house to Kaunas, basing this request on the old laws. Despite the request, only after the Tsarist government reforms of 1827 was the customs house returned to Kaunas. Liudas...
Kaunas had five institutions looking after the sick and poor. Its first infirmary was established in 1519 next to the Franciscan church on the then Panemunės (contemporary Aleksoto) Street near the bank of the River Nemunas. It was looked after and supervised by the Kaunas magistrate. It was known by three names – the Old, the Great and the Town infirmary. In 1529, next to the parish church (the modern-day cathedral), a second infirmary was established. From the second half of the 16th century, the Kaunas Lutheran community had their own separate infirmary and in 1605, Ambraziejus Beinartas, a Vilnius canon priest from Kaunas, funded another Kaunas infirmary, which was named after him. One...
From the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th century Kaunas remained outside the war zone, although from the second half of the 16th century Kaunas had the duty of allowing army units to be stationed in the town or its outskirts. After the wars of the middle of the 17th century, Kaunas was exempt from this duty. In the 18th century Swedish and Russian armies marched through Kaunas, and also Lithuania had a permanent army. After the Seven Years' war (1756-1763) a Russian infantry regiment was stationed in Kaunas. In 1776 Russian soldiers were replaced by the 1st National hussar brigade headquarters with a number of brigade soldiers. In 1790 the headquarters of the 3rd infantry...
From the 16th century, Kaunas had guardsmen, consisting of townspeople who protected the town gates and oversaw public order, and from the 17th century also guarded the town walls. The service as guardsmen was the duty of the townspeople, and in exceptional cases the guardsmen were hired. In the 18th century the townspeople guards on the town gates were replaced by military guardsmen of the army stationed in the town, thus additional night guards were ordered by the magistrate only in exceptional cases. The efforts to create a permanent hired night guard remained unfulfilled and most of the duties fell on the Kaunas craftsmen guilds. Changes came during the years of reforms, in 1792 Kaunas...
All the celebrations of Kaunas town, which despite the confessional differences united all the townspeople, can be divided into four groups: religious, calendar, occasional and state celebrations. The feast of Corpus Christi, also known as Devintinės since it fell on the ninth Thursday after Easter, was an exceptional religious celebration. Of the calendar celebrations, the most notable is Shrove Tuesday, called Triumph in town documents. Occasional celebrations were related to the ceremonies of greeting the important guests in the town. The state celebrations were always opened with Town Hall illuminations. All the town celebrations shared a few common features: they were overseen by the...
The Kaunas town archive started with the establishment of local governance in the beginning of the 15th century. The archive contained the main documents of the town: the privileges that had been awarded to Kaunas by the Lithuanian Grand Dukes and documents of the Kaunas administration. After the reconstruction of the Town Hall in the second half of the 18th century, the town archive was situated in the Town Hall tower beneath the clock. Most possibly, before the reconstruction the archive was housed in another part of the Town Hall, since the tower wasn’t as high as it had been after reconstruction. The archive premises were locked and accessible only to the officers in charge – the...
The River Nemunas ferry belonged to Kaunas townspeople and was rented by the magistrate every year. The ferry was vitally important to the townspeople, since it guaranteed connection with the other bank of the River Nemunas, where Kaunas inhabitants owned land and a few manufacturing trade establishments which belonged to the town, such as the Jiesia mill, Freda folwark, the brickyard and a wax kiln. Ferry prices were set depending on the weather conditions and means of transport. The prices varied depending on the season. The ferry was unprofitable for the town, since the conditions of the agreement and rent prices in some cases were disadvantageous. In 1791 the magistrate decided to take...