History
Klaipeda in the past
The foundation date of Klaipeda is regarded 1 August 1252 and in 1258 the town was granted the Lubeck town rights. It is believed that Memel as the old name of the town has been taken the name used by the Balts’ tribes at the lower Nemunas. It is not known when the name Klaipeda appeared. In historical sources, this name was mentioned for the first time in a letter of the Grand Duke Vytautas in 1413.
Up to the second half of the XV century Klaipeda was just a strategic military location, but after the end of the wars between the Crusades’ Order and the Grand Principality of Lithuania, Klaipeda were rapidly developing as a port. Though it suffered a lot from Prussian, Swedish and Russian interdependent wars, since the middle of the XVII century, due to the British industrialists and traders’ activities, Klaipeda became the most significant timber trade port in the whole Baltic area. Since the World War I Klaipeda region was handed over to the Antante Alliance in 1920, but on 15 January 1923 it was joined to the established independent Republic of Lithuania.
Before the World War II it was a prosperity period for Klaipeda port – new berths were constructed, various marine companies, shipbuilding yards were founded, Lithuanian Shipping Company appeared. However, in 1939 the town was joined to the III Reich and shortly calamities of the World War II fell upon it: the whole town was practically bombed including architectural monuments and churches, nearly all the old population: Germans and local Lithuanians deserted the town.
Foto: www.miestai.net
