Old Lithuania

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Prior to the war and great patriotic USSR, Lithuania did have her own Old Rauma|s or Vlkolínec|s. These would qualify for UNESCO site today if not the total destruction.
Varniai wooden town, was then unchanged from medieval times. 1935
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varniai




Shops in Varniai. 1935


Houses on Kęstučio street in Varniai. ~1935


















Šiulės (probably from Yiddish - shul) street houses. 1935














Other streets in Varniai. 1935










source: muziejai.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Or just another lost jewel - Skaudvilė...


1916 in Skaudvilė.




Interwar.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Tauragė town, totally destroyed at the end of the war and after...
























Local bands of interwar Tauragė.








Local artist.


Local businessman.




Firefighters of the town.


Policemen in Tauragė.




Three friends tauragians, who made their bike journey around Lithuania.


The eagle has landed in interwar Tauragė.


Winter in interwar Tauragė.


Summer.






At work.


Life at villages near Tauragė at that time.








source: muziejai.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Palanga. Tiškevičiai palace.
































First legal Lithuanian language theater performance was played in Palanga.
http://www.epaveldas.lt/image-portle...47421/190433/1

http://www.epaveldas.lt/vbspi/showIm...=PG_S_143807_1

source: epaveldas.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Kretinga. One of not many towns in Lithuania, that, despite minor war loses, for the most part retained its' pre-war charm.

Interwar photos of Kretinga town.

General view.










Main square.






Churches in Kretinga.






Railway station (destroyed).


Railway bridge builders.




People at work.












Supermarkets in Kretinga.








Market in the town.


Cars in Kretinga.
















Local bands.






Weddings in Kretinga.




Local kids.




source: muziejai.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Mosėdis town.

muziejai.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Žagarė town.

muziejai.lt

[Depeched]

Saddly, that almost all halo from this towns gone during WWII and Soviet era

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Originally Posted by Depeched

Saddly, that almost all halo from this towns gone during WWII and Soviet era

Yes, we can't bring back Jews, who constituted huge part of the population of these towns, also many lost buildings may not be rebuilt,
but let us look at the tendencies. We are NOT commie country anymore - no more destruction. We are modern democracy with one of the most
literate population in the World, where ~1/3 of our adult population has university degree of lower or higher level, who are eager to learn from
Western and Northern Europeans what we lost while in the jail of nations of Eastern Europe. Also, despite the population of these towns is still
shrinking because of emigration abroad or to larger cities in Lithuania, these towns with every year look more and more decent and cosy, a
nice place to live, work and create.

Anthology of an average Lithuanian town would look somehow like this.
...-1920. Dirty, stagnating hole.
1920-1940 Prosperous town, nice place to live.
1940-1990 Total destruction, degradation into the black hole.
1990-present. Retaining lost grace. With every year the view is changing significantly. Special are the last 3-4 years, where an average person
can not catch up with the so intensive positive changes literally everywhere.
For example Joniškis.
1990 - dull, neglected, run down, destroyed place.
2005 - dull, sad place.
2012 - nice, cosy, convenient town:

more photos: http://www.panoramio.com/user/453052...to_id=75261106

And this is not an exception, but a rule.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Salantai town.

http://salantiskis.blogspot.com

[pzlotnik]

Originally Posted by KonstantinasŠirvydas

Žagarė town.

muziejai.lt

Inscription on the picture: "Jedna połowa Żagarskiego rynku" (One half of the Zagare market).

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

And a history lesson for foreigner non Eastern European (), based on just one average lithuanian town - Salantai.
Central square of Salantai. Interwar.




But here came magnificient USSR. Dear Comrade Stalin, should we build better houses that that reactionist, burgeois, ugly, supressive regime.


Ta-dah!


Same church, same square.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UUPw-3K9ku...0/P1160627.JPG

source: http://salantiskis.blogspot.com

Of course, now they are preparing the reconstruction of the square and within 2 years it will get a look of Joniškis level.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Originally Posted by pzlotnik

Inscription on the picture: "Jedna połowa Żagarskiego rynku" (One half of the Zagare market).

Oh, firstly I even didn't notice that inscription!
Wow, what a huge, duży square - only half! But for a short time, maybe 20 years, Žagarė was 6th or 7th city by population numbers and a very important trade center. Back then it had 14-16 thousand inhabitants (compare to 2 thousands today).
By the way, I thought Polish żagary somehow relates to Žagarė, but it doesn't.
It is only slang of vilnian Polish language, but still sounds very similar.

Żagary was informal group of Polish poets and intelectuals in interwar Vilnius, mostly of krajowcy attitude.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Nope, I found out, I was wrong. As vilnian slang of Polish, word żagary is neologism and means the same as Lithuanian word žagaras, žabas, žabaras what gave the name not only to Žagarė, but also to three other Žagarai villages, it obviously, that żagary came from žagaras or its derivative Žagarė. Anyway, the origin of the word żagary remains mysterious and interesting. Will find out some day.
Here are some more photos of Žagarė.
By the way, the town was NOT destroyed by the war and preserved its interwar spirit only instead of 3 churches there are two, because commies destroyed on church after the war... By the way, authentic historical Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic and Atheist cemeteries survive there. Impressive festival of berries take place there every summer.

No people.

wiki

A lot of people.

wiki

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Salantai again.


Synagogue of the town.


Shop.


Books, issued by Salantai inhabitant Aleksandras Bendikas.


Book on Samogitian and Lithuanian language.


My favorite picture of the town!


photos - http://salantiskis.blogspot.com

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Interwar advertisement.

muziejai.lt

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

More interwar advertisements. 1938 from the newspaper.

Peasants, buy only local agricultural machines, as You may not get the details for them when broken, if bought abroad-made machine.


Only men, who smoke cigarettes "Friend" are THAT happy.


Sun makes you happy at day, moon makes you happy at night and only cigarettes "My Friend" make you happy all the time.


Genuine tobacco for a true man.


source

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Experts prefers tobacco "Expert". It's big pleasure. If you want to have a pleasure smoke cigarettes:


This is probably the best one. In poem The essence of this short verses is that I lost my weight, got snifter and only cigarettes "Mano bičiulis" will save me from all those disasters


Of course many commercials should be oriented to female readers. Nylon hoses probably was novelty that time )


Informative commercial of the soap with extravagant name "Radium"- millions of special small particles will refresh your skin:


source - the same, comments - author's, who shared 'em.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Soap for washing - there were many commercials of such kind - there are no easier and better washing that with soap "Žuvelė". How easy and how soft it is, and how economical it is , etc. , etc .)):


Another commercial for the washing soap - what buys whole country ? Only soap with mark "Žuvelė":


Creams for skin spot removal with the name "Metamorfoza" ))


Modest commercial of shoes:


But what about this - best galoshes are from factory "Guma" ))


Creams for shoes advertised too:


same source, comments of the author.

[KonstantinasŠirvydas]

Bicycles interesting that male bicycle was cheaper than female ...


Company of "Kacas and partners" had wider collection of bicycles:


Two your best friends - your radio and batteries "Syrius" )


same source, comments of the author.