Šiauliai of the 19th Century and the Beginning of the 20th Century in the Grip of the Russian Empire – History of Šiauliai

The City’s Cultural Life – the Dawn of Awakening Consciousness

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:51:42 +0000

The city’s stronger economy and administrative apparatus was followed by the emergence of various organizations, movements and the like. As new educational and medical institutions were set up, the intelligentsia also grew, because most of its representatives traditionally until then worked in budgetary institutions located in other parts of the Russian Empire. The intelligentsia hastened to rally into organizations, committees, societies, clubs. In this historical process, Šiauliai was destined to become one of the most important focal points of rallying and activities of Lithuanian intelligentsia. Šiauliai city gymnasium, which not only educated young intellectuals but also promoted their activities, was particularly important. Usually the main organizers of the city’s cultural life were former pupils of the gymnasium and their teachers. The nobles with counts Zubovai at the forefront helped very much by volunteering in the organization and sponsoring of activities.

Among these intellectuals one representative of the clergy distinguished himself. It was Ignacas Štachas, an enthusiastic and active Chancellor of the Diocese of Samogitia, who graduated from Varniai Priest Seminary and in the end of the first half of the 19^th century was appointed as a priest in Šiauliai. This man was one of the first proclaimers of teetotalism in Lithuania, whose example inspired Motiejus Valančius to start the teetotalism movement activities. In addition to his direct duties, being an intellectual, educator and historian, I. Štachas soon noticed that one of the most significant reasons for the obscurantism and enslavement of the society was the network of pubs that flourished in the Tsarist Russia, promoting strong drunkenness. He and his affinity group began setting up teetotallers’ fraternities, resulting in considerable reduction of the number of places selling alcohol during the years of his service in Šiauliai. I. Štachas contributed to the repair works of Šiauliai church, and his authority in the city was great. Not without reason, bishop M. Valančius, who visited Šiauliai, later wrote that Šiauliai people were very fond of priests, and their church was worthy of being a cathedral.

In 1860-1861, thanks to the local nobility and authorities, the Public Library was established. At that time, it was one of the first libraries in the history of Lithuania, which in addition to Polish literature had a lot of books on philosophy, nature, and law. Unfortunately, in 1864, after the suppression of the rebellion, it was closed. After the closure of the Public Library, all of its funds were transferred and added to the gymnasium library funds, which became the most important library that had publications of various content. In 1883, V. Bielskis funded and established a secret library, where the works of the very V. Bielskis, N. Chernyshevsky, other Russian and Western revolutionary democrats were stored. The Tsarist authorities wanted but could not close this library because it was set up in count V. Zubovas’s house. This library was particularly important in promoting young people’s progressive views. In 1900, the Public Library was restored and its society, headed by V. Zubovas and attended by such personalities as K. Šalkauskis, K. Venclauskas, V. Bielskis, B. Nurokas and others, was approved. There were more societies and other organizations. In 1868, the Citizens’ Club was founded, mostly consisting of Russian nationality intellectuals – gymnasium teachers and officials, who wanted to spend their free time meaningfully. This Club had its own library, reading room, amateur drama group, etc., it also arranged concerts, various artistic performances. Another very active organization, founded in 1908, was the literary, drama and musical society ‘Varpas’. Although it existed only for six years, it managed to do considerable work. Its activities encompassed most of the cultural life of the city’s Lithuanians. It was a society that acted as a cultural institution: had its own management board, rented premises for a hall containing several hundred seats and a stage, a library with a reading room, and had its own finances. Although it focused on theatre and creation of performances, it also had a choir of 80 members, readers and musicians. There were active Catholic organizations: St. Joseph Workers’ Catholic Society (later reorganized into Šiauliai Christian St. Joseph’s Mutual Assistance Society), Šiauliai division of Lithuanian Catholic Teetotallers’ Society, ‘Darbo’ club intended for female Catholic workers and maids. After the revolution of 1905-1907, Jewish social and cultural life became more active: in 1909-1911, Šiauliai division of Kaunas Jewish Literary Society was developing its activities, in 1912, Jewish music, drama and singing society ‘Gazomir’, which organized concerts, performances, music and literature evenings, was founded.

Another significant accent of Šiauliai cultural life was exhibitions. It is one of the most prominent manifestations of the then cultural life of the city and the result of active efforts of count N. Zubovas, assisted by the landlords of the county. Demonstration of agricultural tools, machines, animals in the exhibitions was aimed at promoting the development of agriculture and industry. The exhibits were brought from both the provinces of Lithuania and provinces of Kuršas, Suwalki, Minsk, Vitebsk, Pavyslis, Prussia districts. The first exhibition was held in 1875; the second, in 1876; the third, in 1879, and later, approximately every three years. In 1914, the exhibition’s events also included theatre troupe and choir performances of ‘Varpas’ society. All these events used to be organized in a specially arranged area, a large exhibition square with a spectacular pavilion building in the centre, around which all the activities took place. This square was located further from the city centre, around the same place where Šiauliai republican hospital now stands.

In the field of literature, active inhabitants of Šiauliai were Laurynas Ivinskis, who was a creator of Lithuanian farmers’ calendars, Bogdanas and Mykolas Oginskiai, the scribe of the marshal of Šiauliai county Aleksandras Mora, the writer of Aušra Juozapas Miliauskas-Miglovara, social and cultural figure Povilas Višinskis, Marija Pečkauskaitė-Šatrijos Ragana, who was inspired by him to write, poet Jonas Krikščiūnas-Jovaras.

The beginning of Lithuanian theatre both in Šiauliai and Lithuania is to be related to the so-called ‘Lithuanian evenings’. For Lithuanians who lived under the rule of the Russian Empire this was the most affordable form of cultural and political activity, struggling for national liberation. In Šiauliai, such events would begin with gegužinės (dancing evenings), which from 1894, were held in Aleksandrija, in the manors of counts Zubovai. On October 31, 1904, mainly by the efforts of Kazimieras and Stanislava Venclauskiai, a public performance ‘Amerika pirtyje’ (‘America in the Bath’) was organized in Šiauliai for the first time in Lithuania, which until then seemed impossible in the Tsarist Empire. Following this and several other public theatre evenings, a group of cultural figures gathered around the Venclauskiai produces several performances, including performances of the plays by Anton Chekhov, and in 1905-1909, a local gymnasium graduate J.Misius, actively involved in theatrical activities in Šiauliai, produces about 12 performances.

The first cinema ‘Elektro-Biografas Modern iš Paryžiaus’ was founded in Šiauliai as early as 1909. The cinema was supplied with a specially equipped electric station, which made the local people call it ‘an electric theatre’. The cinema was equipped with a 180-seat hall. The second cinema named ‘Fantazija’ was founded in 1912. It had a 400-seat hall, and a string orchestra was playing there during breaks and shows. The cinema ‘Fantazija’ was acknowledged the best cinema theatre in the entire Kaunas province.

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Šiaulių Gegužinių (1904 m.)

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Varpo draugijos nariai (1910 m.)

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Amerika pirtyje Palangoje.

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Amerika pirtyje Šiauliuose (afiša).

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Žemės ūkio parodos.

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Education and Self-Education

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:44:33 +0000

In the early 19^th century, Šiauliai had only one parish school, consisting of one class, attached to the church, which was operating for more than 35 years, until 1839. Due to the enhancing Russification and shortage of funds in the city budget, several short-lived schools were founded on the initiative of solitary noblemen, until it was unanimously decided to establish a gymnasium in Šiauliai. Originally, in 1839, a five-grade school was established for the nobility of the county, which was later supplemented by the preparatory class. This institution becomes the subject of exchanges. In 1851, thanks to active local nobility, the gymnasium from Grodno province, Svislach, is moved to Šiauliai in exchange for the said school for the nobility of the county, which was moved to Svislach. This way a school of seven grades and one preparatory grade, called Šiauliai Boys’ Gymnasium, appears in Šiauliai. Due to local laws, only children of noble families and about a tenth of townsmen attended the gymnasium. The land to this gymnasium was donated by Jonas Jakševičius, provided that his offspring and two more generations would be exempted from tuition fees. J. Jakševičius’s daughter Stanislava (future Venclauskienė) kept her father’s will and diligently followed it in a rather unusual way. She adopted over 100 homeless children and foundlings, to whom she gave their surname and this way provided them with both shelter also free education. Her husband, Kazimieras Venclauskis, supported and financed these activities of his wife. Lessons at the gymnasium were given in the Polish language, the spirit of union prevailed, but the pupils were characterized by the inherited identity of ‘the Samogitian noble’. In many cases, the patriotism of Polish union, developed at the gymnasium, simultaneously fostered Lithuanian patriotism too. The influence of this educational establishment was enormous both in the city and in the county, other surrounding counties.

The Šiauliai Boys’ Gymnasium was available only for boys, but girls also had an alternative, but private – the parochial gymnasium for girls, which operated in 1846-1857. In 1865, a girls’ shift was opened in the parochial state owned one-class school and in 1873, there were more girls than boys in this school. In 1898, a girls’ gymnasium was founded in the plot of count Vladimiras Zubovas, who financed the establishment and maintenance of this institution. Count V. Zubovas and his wife Sofija considerably contributed to the areas of education and inhabitants’ educatedness in the city and its vicinity. They initiated and funded the foundation of schools in Ginkūnai (secretly), Naisiai, Gubernija, Dabikinė, Medermrodė. Several short-lived boarding schools were also founded, with the exception of one that operated long: a private real boarding school, which operated from 1861 till 1907, and in 1907, was reorganized into a four-grade progymnasium.

In 1839-1851, the activities of all city schools were supervised by nobility schools of the county; and since 1851, by the directorate of the gymnasium. After the suppression the rebellion of 1863-1864, a Russification programme was introduced in Lithuania, discriminating the Poles and the Lithuanian culture. It was allowed to give lessons in schools only in Russian and to use the Lithuanian language only as a subsidiary language in the first school year.

In turn, Jewish education was organized according to Jewish customs. Jewish children in Šiauliai used to acquire primary education in a three-grade spiritual school attached to kahal (Jewish local authority). Such first-class three-grade state school appeared in Šiauliai in 1853. After this school, children, having acquired practical basics, were preparing to work or continue studying at the rabbinical school. In 1879, a Jewish one-class school was opened. In 1899, the largest industrialist of Šiauliai, Ch. Frenkelis funded the establishment of the Talmud Torah elementary school for Jewish destitute children.

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Šiaulių Talmud Thora žydų mokykla.

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Šiaulių berniukų gimnazija.

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Šiaulių mergaičių gimnazija.

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The Modernizing City

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:41:01 +0000

Even before the end of the 19^th century, lighting of main streets and houses, financed from the city budget, was equipped. In the 20^th century, lighting was equipped by private enterprises: Ch. Frenkelis’s tannery, tannery of brothers Nurokai, ‘Birutė’ sweets factory, etc. Growing industry and trade promoted not only more active postal services but also the spread of new means of telecommunication. In 1865, a telegraph station, which in 1890 employed 20 people, operated in the city. In 1913, Šiauliai post and telegraph office had 11 telephone sets. Internal relations in the city were maintained by telephone; the permissions to lay the line in 1890 were obtained by purchaser O. Kaganas, count N. Zubovas, merchant L. Gocas. In 1911, Šiauliai telephone station started operating.

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Zubovų dvaro rūmai.

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Pašto telegrafo telefono pastatas.

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Grafas Vladimiras Nikolajevičius Zubovas.

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Development of the City’s Industry

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:34:27 +0000

The economic and industrial potential of the city was promoted by emerging local enterprises. Šiauliai of the early 19^th century can be called an agrarian and commercial city, where the majority of the population was engaged in agriculture, even though it did not have its own land. The situation began to change in the middle of the century, when Jewish population, who did not engage in agriculture, but were engaged in trade, began to grow rapidly in the city. As agriculture was prospering, the food industry had the most favourable development conditions. Breweries and vodka distilleries were the most successful industries, like in other cities of Lithuanian provinces at that time, but soon this business encountered a serious problem: the authorities imposed huge excise taxes on drinks produced in the city, while this was not applicable to the production produced in manors, since no tax was imposed on it. In 1875, when large-scale industry started developing, Šiauliai city crafts and small-scale industry were in the penultimate position among the regional centres of Kaunas province, but in the beginning of the 20^th century, as the number of craftsmen was steadily increasing, the city became the centre of the small-scale industry and was the first in the province after Kaunas.

At the turn of the 19^th-20^th centuries, the large-scale industry starts functioning at its full capacity, far from lagging behind other cities of the region or province. Its emergence might have been facilitated by land-based trade routes and import restrictions introduced by the authorities of the central Russian Empire. Here, several branches of industry that were set up should be pointed out. First, it was processing industry of raw materials from livestock, which was weak until the end of the 19^th century, but later grew so much that in the area of leather processing Šiauliai immediately followed Vilnius. Leather processing was initiated by one of the most successful Lithuanian businessmen ever Ch. Frenkelis, who in 1879, founded a leather processing enterprise in Šiauliai. Originally, it consisted of two small wooden houses, which eventually turned into a huge complex of brick buildings. Due to the innovations he introduced, the production of leather processing began modernising substantially and his products were soon noticed and appreciated not only in the provinces in Lithuania and Russian Empire but also in the Western market. In 1905, in world exhibitions held in Paris and Brussels, leather processed in Ch. Frenkelis’s factory was acknowledged as the best and received the highest ratings. Following such astonishing success of the entrepreneur, other business people who lived in the city and who came to the city started following his example and set up their businesses. The factories established by brothers Rogalinai (1894) and Nurokai (1898) continuously grew and increased the employees’ number. Ch. Frenkelis’s factory soon became the largest tannery in the entire Russian Empire: from 1905 to 1914, the turnover of the enterprise grew more than twice – from 7 to 15 million roubles. The factory became known for its red shoe soles, which were especially liked and appreciated. There were soap manufacturing enterprises, which slightly lagged behind these tanneries.

Food industry enterprises began setting up, the largest of which were J. Podliašukas’s tobacco factory, established in 1879 (its successful operation was stopped by the growing excise duties and a fire in 1892, after which the enterprise was no longer able to compete on the market); brothers’ Kaganai sweet and chocolate factory (founded in 1892), which in 1912 employed 250 workers; the first Lithuanian sweets workshop ‘Birutė’, owned by V. Vaitkus, which started operating in 1913.

Paper and polygraph industry also developed in the city, although not so intensively, but especially after the revolution in Russia in 1905-1907. Mostly printing houses prevailed. In 1882, the printing house of J. Volberg and F. Leivand was founded (later rebought by B. Šapiro); in 1896, J. Fridman’s printing house. There were also smaller representatives of wood and metal processing industries.

The most serious competitors of these branches of industry were industries of Aleksandrija and Gubernija manors, which belonged to counts Zubovai. An entire industrial suburb was set up in Gubernija. The brewery of the manor prospered, excise taxes were not applied to it. The brewery became one of the best breweries in the Russian Empire.

In the 19^th century small-scale enterprises were not very successful; they were very few and even these would quickly close up; for example, silk and wool products manufactory founded by the local merchant M. H. Nurokas together with Austrian T. Kiunel in 1858, survived hardly a year, but at the end of the century, Šiauliai became the centre for distribution of manufactured products with prospering N. Zubovas’s shopping house ‘Progresas’, M. Iserlijus’s and J. Podliašukas’s tobacco shop and other shops.

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Miesto vaizdas.

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Miesto vaizdas.

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Gubernijos bravoras.

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Frenkelio fabrikas.

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Building of Trade Routes and Urban Growth

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:24:18 +0000

In the late 18^th century and the early 19^th century, the detailed picture of Šiauliai, recorded in the city plan drawn up in 1800-1801, is already known. It is the first city plan and one of the first such cartographic works in the history of Lithuania. This plan clearly shows the arrangement of buildings, streets and interurban roads of the growing city. Urban growth and economic development were directly influenced by trade routes. In the early 19^th century, Šiauliai stood at the junction of post roads, one of which led as far as Palanga; another, to Panevėžys and further, already to Vilnius. Later, in 1835-1858, a very important highway from Riga to Tilžė via Šiauliai was built. Its significance grew even before it was completed – in 1853-1856, during the Crimean War, when all Baltic seaports were blocked. This in turn led to the economic revival of Šiauliai. The roads were used by post horses and private carriages of wealthy townspeople and civil servants. In 1825-1831, not far from Šiauliai, in the vicinities of the city (near the present settlements of Bubiai and Šaukėnai), the canal, known as Dubysos-Ventos perkasa, which was part of an ambitious project that had to join the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, was dug. The construction of the canal was the largest work of this kind at that time in the entire Russian Empire. It was hoped to join the Nemunas basin with the Baltic Sea, because after the partition of the Commonwealth of Both Nations, the river mouth went to Prussia and the Russian Empire had to look for other ways to access the Baltic Sea. Construction works ceased due to the rebellion of 1831 and subsequent attempts to restart them were inefficient. In the long run, the importance of this canal declined when other transportation alternatives appeared. The Liepaja-Romnai railway line was opened (on September 4, 1871, the Kaišiadorys-Liepaja stretch, and on November 1, 1873, Radviliškis-Kalkūnai branch), connecting Šiauliai with important stations in Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Russia. The earlier built Riga-Tauragė highway also has to be kept in mind; therefore, the growth of the city became unstoppable. Over 52 years (1861-1913), the population increased from almost 6 thousand to more than 23,5 thousand, which allowed Šiauliai to become the second most populous city of Kaunas province (guberniya). From 1861, the number of recorded 467 homes jumped to 1853 in 1910, of which 221 houses were already brick. At the turn of 18-19^th centuries they started caring about planting greenery in the city, but only Didždvaris and the park established in it, which eventually became open to all inhabitants of the city, was famous for its exclusive green areas. On the other hand, there were enough green areas in the city, because plots with gardens were set up in many places.

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Šiaulių miesto planas 1800-1801 m.

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1871 metai.

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History of the City: from the Rebellion to the Rebellion

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:16:28 +0000

After survival of many fires and other persecuting cataclysms and a miraculous ability to recover after each of them, Šiauliai deserves to be called the city phoenix; this image also remains in the 19^th century. The city was twice greatly affected by the rebellions that took place in the Russian Empire, in the territory of the present-day Lithuania: in 1830-1831 and 1863-1864, first local nobles rebelled, willing to restore The Commonwealth of Both Nations or their former status, which was humiliated in the Russian Empire, and later, ordinary people, students rebelled against the power of oppressors and invaders. But before that, Šiauliai city knew what it meant to appear between two world powers, in the intercontinental conflict of two almost different civilizations: the Swedish Deluge period in the 17^th century and the Northern War in the 18^th century. In 1812, Šiauliai was twice crossed by troops of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France. In the towns of Lithuania the Napoleonic administration organized national guards of townsmen to maintain public order, the main function of which were collection of taxes and duties in order to supply French troops with food and fodder. Šiauliai was not an exception. They also had to take care of foreign troops, not only setting out towards Moscow but also returning home after a failed campaign. This caused a lot of financial losses to the city, destroyed property and demanded human sacrifices; the city again declined almost by half.

The Tsarist authorities did not help to cover these losses and in 1830, the city that still had not managed to recover from the Napoleonic War again found itself at the epicentre of the military conflict: the participants of the insurrection from Raseiniai decided to choose Šiauliai as one of the first bases of military entrenchment. The Tsarist troops, who understood the strategic significance of Šiauliai for the rebels, quickly attacked the city and regained it, but Šiauliai time and again moved from hands to hands between the two sides of the conflict, until finally the rebels, having lost the decisive battle near Lake Talkša, withdrew and eventually lost the very insurrection. Šiauliai paid much for it again. Part of the city’s inhabitants was sentenced to death, others were either deported to Siberia or left fleeing from repressions. The city itself, as one of the major centres of the rebellion, underwent rapid colonization of the country in order to stabilize the situation by bringing Orthodox people who were granted a number of privileges. Judging from sparse numbers of settlers, it seems that this tactics did not quite work. Nevertheless, the city managed to recover and rebuild, but again fell into the epicentre of the collision of two different positions in 1863-1864. This time the city no longer needed to oppose the Tsarist Army. The events of 1863 promoted a feudal relationship crisis, when an unconsidered decision had a major impact on the fates of most people. In 1861, a decree is issued, granting civic freedoms to peasants, who till that time were tormented by serfdom, but not granting them the right to possess at least some cultivable land for free, which instantly turned them free but landless. This provokes a chain of reactions and protests responding to them in the Empire, which ended with a new armed rebellion against the Tsarist rule. On February 9^th, 1863, the governor-general informed the governor of Kaunas that two infantry squads and two cavalry squadrons were arriving to prevent possible turmoil in Šiauliai. Due to these security measures, Šiauliai no longer fell into the rebels’ hands, because the arrived Tsar’s army did not give way to this position during the whole rebellion. On the other hand, it was far from calm, as persistent struggles were taking place near Šiauliai, influencing communication relationships with other cities and the like. Here, rebels confronted the enemy army 22 times, although most of the rebellion fights took place near Trakai (23) and Panevėžys (25). When the rebellion was suppressed, Šiauliai was turned into a place of rebels’ execution. In September, 1863 – February, 1864, on the outskirts of the city, in the holdings of count Zubovas, the commanders of the rebellious civic squads B. Kvietkauskas, P. Bagdonavičius, A. Kobylinskis and also participants of the reballion J. Morkis, M. Scipionas, K. Brazulis, A. Kučevskis and others were hanged and shot. Now, this place where the rebels were buried is known as the Hill of Rebels, marked with the Independence Monument, honouring the rebels and protecting their bones.

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1863 metai.

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Išgyvenę 1863 m.

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1863 m.

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Pliateryte – 1831 m. sukilimas.

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Šiauliai on the Threshold of Changes

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:04:49 +0000

Straight after the third partition of the Commonwealth of Both Nations and the occupation of the land of Lithuania, Russian Empress Catherine II, based on the Russian law ‘Malonės raštas miestams’ (‘Letter of Grace to Cities’), in 1785, granted these privileges and rights to Šiauliai: Šiauliai became the centre of the county. Just before the land of Lithuania goes to the Russian Empire, the authority of Šiauliai economy passes to count Platonas Zubovas, the favourite of the Empress of Russia, Catherine II. This is an important turning point in the history of Šiauliai not so much due to P. Zubovas’s activities but because the holdings ruled by him were passed to his elder brother Dmitrijus, who originated the Lithuanian branch of the Zubovai family, which was famous and well deserving to Šiauliai and Lithuania. The power of local nobility was diminishing, and Russian authorities believed that namely they were the most rebellious social stratum. Meanwhile, the belief predominated that it was much easier to control townspeople, which determines the growth of their stratum. All authorities of the city are concentrated in the hands of city hall officials and executives, whose decisions are often inseparable from the will of the central authority, while cultural life usually depends on intellectuals of noble origin. The life of Šiauliai city in the Russian Empire is best reflected in several different but important activity areas.

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Grafas Vladimiras Nikolajevičius Zubovas.

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