Kaunas

Overview

Kaunas is 80 km west of Vilnius . It is the second city of the country and according to most Lithuanians the most Lithuanian 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 lot 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 Laisv�s al�ja, 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 which looms over Nepriklasomy�s Aikšt� (independance square). Also on the sqaure is the Mykolas Žilinskas 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. Žmuidzinavičius Art Museum. It houses a big collection of devil figures, including a representation of Hitler and Stalin dancing around...more

History