Kaunas Things to Do

Every Saturday and Sunday at 16.00 you can listen to free carillon concerts in the garden of Vytautas the Great Military Museum. Regular concerts of the carillon began in 1956. Originally the carillon consisted of 35 bells but at present there are 49.

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The church was built in 1893 as a Russian Orthodox Cathedral for the Russian soldiers based in town but nowadays serves the Catholic congregation.
The catacombs are now used as the Blind Museum (open daily 08.00 - 16.00, admission free).

Vytautas the Great is one of the great names of medieval times. He lived 1350 to 1430. Together with the Polish king Jogaila he defeated the Teutonic Order in a deciding battle at Grunwald in 1410. That battle put an end to the Order's power in Europe.
This statue was erected in 1990.

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The cathedral dates back to 1408, but the interior paintings and woodwork come mostly from the 18th century. It is the largest Gothic building in Lithuania being 84 x 34m. There are in fact nine(!) altars inside. Worth looking at is also the beautiful ceiling with its vaults.

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This beautiful late Gothic house was built by Hanseatic merchants towards the end of the 15th century. It got it's name after a little statue of the God of Thunder, Perkunas, which was found hidden in the walls when some restauration was done in the 19th century.
Except for the Adam Mickiewicz (Adomas Mickevicius) museum which is located in the house, it is only open by appointment.

The construction of the Town Hall was begun in 1542. From the beginning there were a few shops on the ground floor, the municipal functions taking place on the floor above and the prisoners who were judged here had to spend their time locked up in the basement. The building has also been used as an ammunition dump, palace, theatre and church, and is nowadays very often used as a wedding hall.
The tower is 53m high.
In front of the entrance and slightly to the south there is a wax melting furnace in the ground beneath a layer of glass. It shows a melting stove. Kaunas was an important center of wax melting and wax trade in the Middle Ages.
There is a ceramic museum in the former prison in the basement. It is open 11.00 - 17.00 Tuesday until Sunday.

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St. George's Church sits just opposite the castle at the other side of the moat. It was built in 1487 but has been destroyed by fires three times. During the Sovjet times it was used to store medicine and when it was eventually given back to the Friars it was in a very poor condition and many of the from the beginning valuable paintings and other adornments were more or less destroyed, as can be seen on my pictures.

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The castle is the oldest building in Kaunas, built in the 14th century. It was built mainly of stone but also to some extent of brick. It is a Gothic building with two rows of protective walls and is the only castle of this type in Lithuania. Soon after it was built a settlement started to grow around it, becoming the cradle to present day Kaunas. The castle was first mentioned in written records in 1361 when the Teutonic Order was preparing to attack it, which they even did the year later. It has been rebuilt several times during the years.