Kuršėnai

Sister cities

• Port-sur-Saône

History

The town and its surroundings fall within the boundaries of the territory inhabited by the ancient Samogitian tribe. According to historian S. Zajančiovskis, Kuršėnai was first mentioned in the 12th century. Since the 14th century, Kuršėnai village and Kuršėnai Manor was the personal property of the Lithuanian Grand Duke. A wooden church was built in 1523. From 1561-1563 Kuršėnai was already referred to as a town. In 1564, King and Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus gave Kuršėnai with 162 valakas of land, on the advice of the Samogitian Elder Jonas Chodkevičius, to the Despot-Zenavičiai family. Kuršenai was later the property of Pac family and after them a property of Gruževskiai family, who ruled the town with the manor until World War II. Under George Despot-Zenevičius, the Castellan of Polotsk, the town began to expand in the manor lands on the other side of the Venta River. In 1621, the estate was acquired by Steponas Pacas, the Grand Treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Great Scribe of Lithuania. In 1631, by a decree of the King Sigismund III Vasa, the manor of Kuršėnai was given to George Gruževskis (1591-1651) as a perpetual right for his merits in the Livonian War. At the end of the 18th century, Kuršėnai were inherited by Stephen Gruzewski. Having brought in the artist J. Rilke with the apprentice team, he built a new (current) manor house and a chapel and renovated other buildings in 1811. The estate flourished still further under the rule of his younger son Edward who took it over in 1846. Kuršėnai Manor has the most valuable heritage of wooden manorial architecture in Šiauliai District. The original staircase, window frames, and wooden front doors have survived. After the Third Partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the estate of Kuršėnai…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8
• White Stork

  Ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  6
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  5
• Great Grey Slug

  Limax maximus Linnaeus, 1758 · Gastropoda
  5
• Common Crane

  Grus grus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5