pradzia (original) (raw)
Briefly about Salantai
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| Emblem of Salantai |
Salantai's history originates as far back as the 13th century as a small village. According to the local cencus, there were four streets, a town square and 27 houses.
Later a few estates were built by Earl Gorskis and Earl Oginskis. In 1746 four fairs were permitted to organize by August III.
In 1833 there were 1294 inhabitants, and in 1897 there were 2449 inhabitants. Currently there are approximately 2500 inhabitants.
In accordance with the blue prints of a Swedish architect a neo-gothic church was built between 1906 � 1911. It was named after the holy ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven. The spires of the building are 70 metres high.
In the second part of the19th century a water mill was built. Salantai had a post office,
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| Church of Salantai |
approximately 80 shops, and a few small workshops.
In the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century Salantai was the centre of a small municipality, in 1950 to 1959 it bacame the centre of a district, and since 1959 it has belonged to the Kretinga district.
After World War II Salantai's disctrict had almost the same number of inhabitants as Plunge's and Skuodas'. However, industry was not being developed and the town did not expand.
Salantai is situated on the both banks of the Salantas river (the tributary of the river Minija). In 1993 a dam was built to replace the old water mill. The water area is 5 hectares.
The town area is approximately 3.3 square kilometres. Here are three schools: Salantai Secondary School, Salantai Boarding School (for handicapped children) and Salantai Art School.
In addition Salantai has a local municipality, a post office, a kindergarten, a police station, a hospital, a cultural centre, an outpatient clinic, an administration of Salantai National Park, two chemist�s shops, two gasoline stations, a bookshop, about 20 shops, an auto repair shop, a bakery, a dairy and a bank.
In Salantai there are several places of interest: the Church, the Rooster�s chapel, ancient burial mounds of Imbare and Laiviai, the park, Orvydas's museum of the absurd, the mount of Alka, geological reserves in Saukliai and Erlenai, the chapel of the cemetery, the Jewish cemetery in Zvainiai.
Recently the town celebrated the 440th establishment anniversary of its founding. On this ocassion the flag and the town emblemhymn were established. In addition commemorative statues carved by L. Ruginis was unveiled in front of the municipality building.