Kalvarija, Lithuania


Kalvarija is a city in southwestern Lithuania, located in the Marijampolė County, close to the border with Poland.

Etymology and names

Variants of the name include Kalvarijos, Kalvariya, Kalwarja, Kalvarye, Kalwaria, Kalvarien, Calvaria, Kalvaria, Kalwariya, and Kalwarya. The town is named so because it was established in the 17th century as a shrine commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus.

History

In 1705 the first wooden church was built. In 1713, local Jews received permission from King August II to build a synagogue and Jewish craftsmen were first permitted to practice their crafts without having to be members of the craft guilds. In 1791 Stanisław August Poniatowski recognized that Kalvarija had the right to call itself a town and confirmed the municipality's coat of arms. Kalvarija developed rapidly when the new St. Petersburg–Warsaw road was constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. 1840 saw the construction of a new Catholic church, which still stands today. By the outbreak of World War I, Kalvarija had over 10,000 inhabitants; the destruction of two-thirds of the town during the war caused the population decline.
During World War II, in 1941, a mass execution of 38 Jews of the city was perpetrated by Gestapo soldiers and Lithuanian policemen.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kalvarija is twinned with: