Vepriai

Vepriai
Vepriai
	Location of Vepriai
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Aukštaitija
County	Vilnius County
Municipality	Ukmergė district municipality
Elderate	Vepriai elderate 55°09′00″N 24°34′30″E / 55.15000°N 24.57500°E
Capital of	Vepriai elderate
First mentioned	1384
Population (2005)
• Total	1,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Vepriai (Template:PronEng in English, simplified Lithuanian transcription [væprⁱaǐ]) is a largest town in Ukmergė district, Lithuania, situated south-west of Ukmergė with population of about 1000 (2005). The capital of Vepriai elderate.

History

Vepriai was founded on a hill near Vepriai Lake and south of Šventoji River. The first mention of Vepriai name (Weppren) comes from the Teutonic Knights' description of routes in 1384. In the Middle Ages Vepriai was a powerful hill fort which has assisted in protection of Lithuanian lands from western threats, mainly the Teutonic Order. During the struggle for power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the united forces of Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas and the Teutonic Order attacked and captured the castle in 1384. After the threats were eliminated, a wooden defensive castle on a piliakalnis was subsequently turned into a residential manor surrounded by a settlement, ruled by various noble families for several centuries. Since the first mention in 1542 its owners were Kęsgailos family, Šemetos family (17th century), Barbara Šemetienė née Ogińska (until 1681), Marcjan Aleksander Ogiński (1681-1690), Tyzenhaus family, Jozef Dominik Kossakowski (1808-1840) and his daughter Pelagia married to Scottish esquire, a former servant in the Indian Navy, Alexander Bower St. Clair (1840-1855), Ksavery and Anna Podbereski (since 1855) and finally Plater family (late 19th century - 1923).

The 17th century Renaissance palace on the Vepriai Mound was devastated by Swedish troops during the Deluge or the Great Northern War and has been demolished later on. The other place closer to the lake has been selected for the new palace. The present Neoclassical palace was erected in the 19th century and is dominant in the manor ensemble. Countess Emilia Plater with her army has stayed in the manor during the November Uprising. The manor was nationalized in 1923 and has been used to house the newly established Vepriai Agricultural School since 1924. Vepriai became the center of the new parish in 1845 and has been the capital of Vepriai Volost from 1864 until 1950.

Geography

The town is situated near the center of Vepriai Meteor Crater, the largest of craters found in Lithuania.

Vepriai is located in Aukštaitija Region, in the Middle Lithuanian Lowlands, 4 km south of a major highway connecting Ukmergė, Jonava and Kaunas cities. It is situated 11 km southwest of Deltuva and 10,5 km northeast of Upninkai.

The third biggest river in Lithuania Šventoji flows just south of the town. Forests, hills and river valleys are inherent to the landscape of Vepriai and its vicinity. The picturesque Vepriai Lake, situated 67 meters above mean sea level, serves for fishing and various leisure activities of locals and arrivals. Due to its convenient placement, beautiful nature and rich heritage Vepriai is one of the most attractive tourism sites in Ukmergė District.

Panoramic view of the town from the Vepriai Lake. The manor is on the left side and the church is right of the middle of the image

Structures

File:Vepriai manor.jpg

Desolate Vepriai manor palace

The derelict western pavilion of the Vepriai manor palace (19th century), decorated with a portico with 4 columns of a simplified Corinthian order and painted in white, with the outhouse and remains of a park with ponds and a linden alley has survived until the present days.

The neo-Gothic Vepriai Roman Catholic Church of The Holy Virgin Mary the Queen of the Rosary was built in 1910 in the place of an old wooden church. Construction of the church, designed by Władysław Stipulkowski, was funded by the Count Marian Broel - Plater and local farmers. The church suffered a belfry's blow-up by Wehrmacht on 26 July 1944; its restoration to the original appearance is pending.

The oldest remaining structure in the town is a Baroque roadside chapel built after 1772 in commemoration of the Bar Confederation. It is the only surviving piece of the masonry Baroque architecture in Ukmergė district.

The largest construction took place in Vepriai center during the final decades of the Soviet rule. In the place of the old rectory and several other wooden buildings the modern public services' building was erected. Today it houses a shop, a bar and a motel. In the site of a demolished water mill a new dam was constructed in the 1990s. The Young Pioneer camp used to be in the southern Vepriai, which was abandoned in the 1990s and later reconstructed to the children summer camp in 2004.

Culture

In the outskirts of the town the Way of the Cross according to the Catholic tradition was created in 1846. Wooden chapels were replaced by masonry chapels (aediculas) from 1882 until 1900, only the chapel of the Last Supper (Večernykas) and the chapel of St. Veronica's Service have remained unchanged. Despite its complete destruction in winter of 1962-1963, Vepriai Way of the Cross has remained popular and has been attended abundantly throughout the Soviet occupation. The Way stretches for 5,5 km and is marked by brick chapels and wooden or iron gates denoting Stations of the Cross, most of which were restored in 1989. Vepriai Way of the Cross (Veprių Kalvarijos) is one of the three remaining in Lithuania (together with Verkiai and Žemaičių Kalvarija) and is visited by local worshipers yearly in Whit Sunday.

Joninės' celebration has a vivid tradition in Vepriai. The feast takes place in Vepriai pinewood, near the hippodrome. It starts with horse race, sports competitions, and performances of local folk music bands and ends with lighting of the bonfire and a nightlong youth discotheque.