Marijampolė

Marijampolė
—  City  —
Marijampolė Town Centre
Coat of arms
Marijampolė Location of Marijampolė
Coordinates: 54°34′N 23°21′E / 54.567°N 23.35°E / 54.567; 23.35Coordinates: 54°34′N 23°21′E / 54.567°N 23.35°E / 54.567; 23.35
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Suvalkija
County	Marijampolė County
Municipality	Marijampolė municipality
Eldership	Marijampolė eldership
Capital of	Marijampolė County Marijampolė municipality Marijampolė eldership
First mentioned	1667
Granted city rights	1792
Population (2007)
– Total	47,244
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)

Marijampolė ( pronunciation (help·info); also known by several other names) is an industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Marijampolė is 48,700 (2003). It is the Lithuanian center of the Suvalkija region.

Under Soviet occupation from 1955 to 1989, the town was officially named Kapsukas, after Vincas Kapsukas, founder of the Lithuanian Communist Party. The historical name was restored just before Lithuania regained its independence.

Marijampolė is the seventh largest city in Lithuania, and has been its regional center since 1994. The city covers an area equal to 205.07 square kilometres. The Šešupė River divides the city into two parts which are connected by six bridges.

Marijampolė Palace of Culture

Names

The city has also been known as Marijampolis, Mariampole, Starapolė, Pašešupiai, Marjampol, Mariyampole, and Kapsukas.^[1]

History

The settlement was originally founded as a village called Pašešupė (in Polish: Poszeszupie), after the nearby river of Šešupė. As such the town was first mentioned in 1667. In 18th century the village, at that time belonging to the Catholic Church, grew to become a market town and its name was changed to Starpol or Staropole, after a new village built for Prienai starost's guards in the vicinity in 1739.^[2] The settlement was destroyed by a fire in 1765.

After the disaster the wife of contemporary starost of Prienai, Franciszka Szczukowa née Butler, financed a new church and a monastery for the Congregation of Marian Fathers.^[2] Following the foundation of the monastery, a new town was built in the area. It was named Maryampol, after the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marya-), with the suffix -pol denoting a town.^[3]

On February 23, 1792 king Stanislaus Augustus of Poland granted the "townlet of Mariampol" with Magdeburg Law and a privilege of market organisation. Following the Partitions of Poland the town was briefly a part of Prussia. However, after the Napoleonic Wars it was restored to Kingdom of Poland. In 19th century the town continued to grow, mostly thanks to a large number of Jewish and German settlers. In 1817 the town became a seat of a separate powiat within the administrative system of the kingdom.^[2] In 1827 the town had 1759 inhabitants. By 1861 the number grew to 3718, 3015 of them being Jewish.^[2]

Following the January Uprising and the Russian suppression of the former Commonwealth lands, the powiat of Maryampol was seriously diminished.^[2] Around that time also the monastery gained prominence as it was the only monastery owned by the Marians that was not closed down by the tsarist authorities.^[4] As the surroundings of the town were primarily inhabited by Lithuanians,^[2] the town became a centre of Lithuanian national revival. The proximity of Prussian border made smuggling of books in Lithuanian language, banned in Imperial Russia, easier. Among the most notable Lithuanian scholars and writers active in Mariampol at that time were Kazys Grinius, Jonas Jablonskis, Vincas Kudirka and Antanas Venclova.

Following World War I the town became part of Lithuania and was renamed to its current name of Marijampolė. During World War II the town was occupied by Germany. The SS murdered most of the towns' Jewish inhabitants. In the effect of the war the town was heavily damaged and almost emptied. After the war it was rebuilt and repopulated with immigrants from other parts of Lithuania. Currently in Marijampolė, roughly 95 % of its inhabitants are Lithuanians, with 4 % being Russians and less than 1 % being Poles.

On April 9, 1955 the authorities of Lithuanian SSR once again renamed the town, this time to Kapsukas, after a Lithuanian communist politician Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas.^[5] The old name was restored after Lithuania regained her independence.

The Anshe Shalom synagogue in Chicago, Illinois was founded by immigrants from Marijampolė.

Transport

Marijampolė is accessible by railway, Kaunas-Šestokai-Alytus line. Marijampolė is located at the crossroads of two highways. The Via Baltica connects Helsinki with Central and Southern Europe. The other highway links the city of Kaliningrad with Minsk.

Industry

Marijampolė is connected to its partners by business, sport, education, tourism, and other ties. Marijampolė's local means of mass media include a local television station, a local radio station, the newspapers "Marijampolės laikraštis", "Suvalkietis", "TV savaitė", "Sugrįžimai", and magazine "Suvalkija". Culturally, Marijampolė enjoys one cinema and a municipal drama theater.

Marijampolė is a regional centre of light industry enterprises, construction, transport and trade.

Education

Marijampolė has a strong educational system with state education institutions: 9 pre-school institutions, 6 nursery schools, 1 primary school, 12 lower secondary schools, 9 secondary schools, 3 gymnasium, a youth school, an adult education center, 5 additional training establishments, 3 non-state education institutions, a music school of Christian Culture, gymnasium of Marijonai, and R.Vosylienė languages school.

Marijampolė municipality

Marijampolė has a City Council with 27 members. The members of the City Council represent different Lithuanian political parties.

The municipality of Marijampolė is adjacent to the Vilkaviškis district municipality in the west, Kazlų Rūda municipality in the north, Kalvarija municipality in the south, and the Prienai district municipality and Alytus district municipality in the east.

The town of Marijampolė and its 6 surrounding communities make up the territory of Marijampolė municipality. They are: Gudeliai, Igliauka, Liudvinavas, Marijampolė, Sasnava, and Šunskai communities. Marijampolė municipality covers 755 km² of land; 72% of which is an agricultural area, 12.3% is covered by forests; 4.2% – towns and villages, 2% – industrial enterprises and roads, and 6.9% – area used for other purposes.

International partners

The city of Marijampolė is co-operating with Kokkola (Finland) Bergisch Gladbach (Germany), Suwałki and Piotrków Trybunalski (Poland), Kvam municipality of Hordaland (Norway), Viborg (Denmark), Chernyakhovsk (Russia).

Notable people

• Witold Teofil Staniszkis, Polish politician
• Violeta Urmana, Lithuanian diva, a honorary citizen of the city
• Darius Songaila, basketball player

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Lithuania

Marijampolė is twinned with:

• Suwałki, Poland
• Piotrkow Trybunalskie, Poland
• Rogozno, Poland
• Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• Cherniachovsk, Russia
• Kokkola, Finland
• Kvam, Norway
• Viborg, Denmark

Notes and references

1. ^ Library of Congress Authority control Name Headings. HEADING: Marijampolė (Lithuania). Accessed 2009-09-14.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} (Polish) various authors (1885). Filip Sulimierski, Bronisław Chlebowski, Władysław Walewski. ed. Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich. VI. Warsaw: Wł. Walewski. pp. 146. http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_VI/146. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
3. ^ Cognate with the Greek suffix -polis. Modern Lithuanian name of the town also follows the same etymology. It is to be noted that there are at least ten settlements of the same name in modern Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, all sharing a similar etymology.
4. ^ (English) [1]
5. ^ (Lithuanian) [2]

External links

• Homepage of the city
• Homepage of the Municipality
• Facts&Figures
• History of the Jewish shtetl in Marijampolė
• Organ at Basilica of Marijampolė