Aleksotas is an elderate in the southern section of the city of Kaunas

Kaunas

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, bordering the left bank of the Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

 (Lithuanian: Nemunas). Its population in 2006 was 21,694.

There is evidence that during pre-Christian times a pagan shrine was located here. The suburb was founded in 1408, when Vytautas the Great

Vytautas the Great

Vytautas ; styled "the Great" from the 15th century onwards; c. 1350 October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians...

 granted the woods that stood here to the city of Kaunas. Until the 16th century it was called Svirbigala, derived from the rivulet Svirbė. The name Aleksotas was used from the 16th century on, and is thought to be derived from the word aleksotai (shipyards) since many Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

 transport operations were located there. After the final Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

 in 1795, Aleksotas, unlike most of Lithuania, became part of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, until 1807 when Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 incorporated it into the Duchy of Warsaw

Duchy of Warsaw

The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...

. It then became part of Congress Poland

Congress Poland

The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

. During 1830-1831 Uprising

November Uprising

The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...

 uprisinf forces used Aleksotas hill as artillery post to attack Kaunas, and eventually took city. In December 1863, large January Uprising

January Uprising

The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...

 forces gathered here, hoping to be able to free Antanas Mackevičius

Antanas Mackevicius

Antanas Mackevičius – was a Lithuanian priest and one of the initiators and leaders of the 1863 January Uprising in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on the lands of the partitioned Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.- Biography :Antanas Mackevičius was born into a family of minor...

, one of the uprising leaders in Lithuania, who was held imprisoned in Kaunas Old Town, although the attack never happened.

1864, it became part of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. However, it retained its old laws (the Napoleonic code

Napoleonic code

The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...

) and persisted in using the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

. A popular joke at the time had it that the Aleksotas bridge was the longest in the world, because it took twelve days to cross (i.e. the difference between the Gregorian

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

 and Julian calendar

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...

s). It was a centre of Marijampolė Uyezd.

In 1918, independent Lithuania was re-established

Act of Independence of Lithuania

The Act of Independence of Lithuania or Act of February 16 was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The Act was signed by all twenty...

 and Aleksotas became an integral part of it. The suburb grew rapidly in the 1920s, after Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania

Temporary capital of Lithuania

The temporary capital of Lithuania was the official designation of the city of Kaunas in Lithuania during the interwar period. It was in contrast to the declared capital in Vilnius , which was under Polish control from 1920 until 1939...

. In 1931 it officially became a part of the City of Kaunas. From 1920 to 1940 many houses, shops, sawmills, and flour mills were built in Aleksotas. Its commercial and industrial facilities included grain storage houses, a glass factory, a Aleksotas Funicular Railway

Aleksotas Funicular Railway

Aleksotas Funicular Railway is a funicular railway located in Aleksotas elderate of Kaunas, Lithuania. The funicular constructed on the right bank of the Neman River was officially opened on 6 December 1935. The track of the Aleksotas funicular remained unchanged. It is a monorail with a...

, the first bridge across the Neman, and the international S. Darius and S. Girėnas airport

S. Darius and S. Girenas Airport

S. Darius and S. Girėnas Airport , also known as Aleksotas Airport , is a small airport located in Aleksotas, close to the Europa Avenue, only 3 kilometres away from the Kaunas city centre in Lithuania.S. Darius and S...

. The Physics and Chemistry Institute of Vytautas Magnus University

Vytautas Magnus University

Vytautas Magnus University ) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university...

 was located here before being destroyed during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The area suffered much damage during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Kaunas Botanical Garden

Kaunas Botanical Garden

The Kaunas Botanical Garden was founded in 1923 south of the center of Kaunas, Lithuania, in conjunction with the University of Lithuania by the initiative of Tadas Ivanauskas and Konstantinas Regelis...

 is located in the elderate.

The M. K. Čiurlionis Bridge

M. K. Ciurlionis Bridge

M. K. Čiurlionis Bridge is a bridge in Kaunas, Lithuania. It crosses the Nemunas River to connect Freda and Kaunas City center. The bridge is 475 meters in length and 29.4 meters in width. It carries six lanes of automobile traffic, with three lanes in each direction...

 and Vytautas the Great Bridge

Vytautas the Great Bridge

Vytautas the Great Bridge, also known as Aleksotas Bridge before 1930 and from 1940 until 23 February 2008, crosses the Nemunas River to connect Aleksotas and Old Town in Kaunas, Lithuania. Its length exceeds 256 meters, and its width is of 16 meters. The means of payment for the building of the...

 link the district to the centre and the old town

Centras (Kaunas)

Centras is an elderate in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, based on two neighbourhoods of Kaunas - the Old City and the New City. It lies at the confluence of two major Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris....

.

Famous people

• Oskar Minkowski
  Oskar Minkowski
  Oskar Minkowski He held a professor at at the University of Breslau and is most famous for his research on diabetes...
  
  , diabetes research pioneer
• Hermann Minkowski
  Hermann Minkowski
  Hermann Minkowski was a German mathematician of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who created and developed the geometry of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity.- Life and work :Hermann Minkowski was born...
  
  , mathematician, creator of Minkowski space
  Minkowski space
  In physics and mathematics, Minkowski space or Minkowski spacetime is the mathematical setting in which Einstein's theory of special relativity is most conveniently formulated...
  
  
• Ona Juodytė-Chadaravičienė, actress

External links

• Website of Kaunas city Aleksota in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland (1880)