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by Audrius Slapsinskas, 19 June 2003
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Subdivisions:
The flag and coat of arms of Siauliai district was drawn
according to pictures, which was taken from booklet: DISTRICT
OF SIAULIAI AND ITS CONTEMPORARY HERALDRY [lal02].
Here is information from this book:
"Siauliai District is a peculiar territory of Northern
Lithuania. The biggest part of it lies in the ancient lands of
Siauliai (the Sun), the western part in the former lands of
Knituva. The present territory of Siauliai District is 1819 km2.
Its western part is populated by the western Samogitians
(Varniai), the biggest part - by the western Highlanders
(aukstaiciai, Siauliai). The number of the population is 51,200
(data of 2001). The Via Hanza (Ryga - Berlin) and Panevezys -
Palanga highways, the railway lines Vilnius - Klaipeda, Vilnius -
Mazeikiai, Vilnius - Ryga cross the territory.
Siauliai District was formed in 1950 and has undergone several
territorial - administrative reforms: in 1962 Siauliai and
Kursenai Districts were joined into one with the administrative
centre in Siauliai, so the present territory of Siauliai District
has been in existence for 40 years.
Since 1963 the rural districts of Bazilionai, Ginkunai,
Gruzdziai, Kairiai, Kursenai, Kurtuvenai, Kuziai, Meskuiciai,
Micaiciai, Pakape, Raudenai, Smilgiai and Sakyna were included
into the territory.
Since 1995 the District Municipality Administration has been
reorganised and the territory has been divided into 10 smaller
administrative units (seniunijos): Kursenai town, Bubiai,
Gruzdziai, Kursenai rural, Kuziai, Meskuiciai, Raudenai, Sakyna,
and Siauliai rural. Since 2001 Ginkunai has come into existence.
Later the rural unit of Siauliai was subdivided into 2.
Siauliai District Municipality was headed by K. Purvinskas
(1965-1969), J. Leinartas (1965-1969), A. Norvilis (1969-1975),
V. Budrikis (1975-1978), A. Morkunas (1978-1990). After the
restoration of the Independence of Lithuania V.Krasauskas
(1990-1994), R. Maciunas (1994-1995), B. Cekanauskas (1995), V.
Girnius (1995-1996), A. Jonuska (1997-2000) acted as the heads of
the Municipality. R. Jakutis, present Mayor of the District
Council, has been elected on April 3,2000.
The Act on the Restoration of the State Independence has brought
significant changes into the cultural and spiritual life of local
people, new opportunities of free and democratic development have
been created for the whole country and the District in
particular. Values of the past, historical symbols have been
revived. The State symbols - the national flag, the anthem, the
historical coat of arms (the Vytis) have been legalised, the
historical coats of arms of towns have been revived and many new
ones have been created. Kursenai is the first town in the
District to get its coat of arms (1994). Later ideas about the
creation of the flags and coats of arms for the settlements and
centres of the seniunijos were developed and the coats of arms
for Sakyna, Kairiai, Gruzdziai, Meskuiciai, Bubiai, Raudenai, and
Kuziai were created.
Siauliai District, which occupies a big territory around Siauliai
City, never had any coat of arms. In 2001 the Lithuanian Heraldry
Commission was addressed to create the coat of arms and the flag
for the District. The symbols of the District were confirmed by
the President of the Republic of Lithuania on February 19,2002.
The flag and the coat of arms are the heraldic symbols not only
of the town as the centre of the rural district (seniunija) but
of the rural district itself. New traditions for the use of the
coats of arms are being created there by fostering recognition of
the past and present, inspiring love for the country and the
State and are becoming an inseparable part of the State, city,
town and rural district festivals. Introduction of new heraldic
traditions created the necessity for the remaining 3 rural
districts of Kursenai, Siauliai and Ginkunai to have the coats of
arms of their own. These heraldic symbols are going to be
included into the present publication.
The initiators of this booklet were driven by the fact that the
heraldry of the district and some rural districts has been
confirmed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. The
local government and cultural institutions, whose workers
organise State and district festivals, the Lithuanian public,
especially teachers and students who are interested in the
heraldry and history of their country and their locality are to
benefit from this publication. We trust that this booklet will
act as a stimulus striving to recognise the historical past of
the country and the locality.
Siauliai District Coat of Arms
Siauliai gained its significance as a territorial-administrative
centre in the II half of the 18th century. Up to that the time
Raseiniai was the only court centre in Zemaitija (Samogitia).
In 1758 it was requested by the Raseiniai Seimas to found more
courts as Zemaitija occupied a big territory with a great number
of inhabitants. In 1764 Zemaitija was divided into two parts
(Lat. repartitio) of Raseiniai and Telsiai and in 1775 the centre
was moved from Telsiai to Siauliai. In 1790 there were 3 centres
in Raseiniai, Siauliai and Telsiai. The 3 centres and their
borders were legalised by the Reform Parliament or the 4 Year
Parliament (1788-1792) and in 1793 by the Gardinas Seimas. The
parts were renamed as pavietai, later (in the 19 th century) as
counties. In 1775, when the centre was moved from Telsiai to
Siauliai, the court seal depicted the mounted knight of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania with the land court officer's coat below. Such
a seal from 1788 shows the knight and Liudvikas Pilsudskis',
officer's, coat of arms: an arrow spread wide at the bottom with
a half-cross on the right. After the reform of 1790 the heraldry
of Siauliai land was changed: the knight was replaced by the arms
of the Duchy of Zemaitija with a bear as to stress the
administrative dependence. Such seals are in several collections:
Academy of Sciences Library, Department of Manuscripts, Archives
of History of the State of Lithuania, Siauliai Pavietas Land
Court.
The seal was redisigned in 1795, introducing the double-headed
eagle of the Russian Empire in the upper and the knight in the
lower part. Such a composition is found in the seals of 1797 and
1814. In this way the heraldry of Siauliai land of the 19 th
century consists of 3 symbols: the double-headed eagle in the
upper, and the knight and the bear in the lower part or the
knight and the officer's coat.
Such a composition might have remained until the middle of the 19
th century.
In 1842 the province of Kaunas was founded with Siauliai as a
part of it. On June 11,1843, a new emblem was given: a greyish
(silver) obelisk (a copy of the Borodino monument commemorating
the War of 1812) on a field of azure of two merging rivers.
The sketches of the coats of arms of the 6 counties presented for
Teodoras Mirkovicius, Vilnius governor, included the one of
Siauliai: the upper field of a shield divided per fess was
charged with the new Kaunas province coat and the lower field
with three shocks of yellowish wheat on a field of green
intercrossed with a sickle.
This coat of arms was disapproved by the Vilnius governor who
introduced only one shock of wheat, but on April 6, 1845 the
Emperor Nicholas I confirmed the first version. The original is
in the collection of the Russian State Archive in St Petersburg.
It is worth mentioning that the new coat of arms was designed for
Siauliai County and later became the coat of arms of Siauliai
city.
In 1857 the Heraldry Department led by Bernhard Kohne was founded
in the Russian Empire. New coats were created for the Lithuanian
provinces, but the one for Siauliai province contained several
mistakes. It was redesigned by B. Kohne, nevertheless, remained
as a paper variant.
World War I and collapse of the Russian Empire brought
independence for the Baltic States. In 1917 the obelisk in Kaunas
was torn down by the Germans. After the formation of the
Independent State of Lithuania the historical symbols were
resurrected.
Speaking about the Siauliai coat of arms there exists the
description of the mysterious coat from the 16th century with
three symbols: the knight, the bear and three shocks of wheat.
In 1922 Juozas Tumas Vaizgantas in the magazine "Our
Past" published the description of Siauliai County which was
originally written by Mauricijus Griskevicius and translated from
Polish by Davainis Silvestravicius. He wrote that Siauliai
District was part of Upyte and had the symbol of its own: "a
double white cross on a green hill on a field of azure".
The old heraldry of Siauliai land presents three symbols : the
knight, the bear and three shocks of wheat.
Siauliai land belonged to the Duchy of Samogitia although it
symbolically as Siauliai land paid taxes to Trakai land.
The design work of the coat of arms for Siauliai District
included the wish of Siauliai District Municipality to depict as
many as possible historical events: the Sun Battle of 1236,
victory of the Samogitians over the Teutonic Order, the Hill of
Crosses visited by Paul II in 1993, educational and cultural
movement in the period of Press Ban.
However, it was impossible to include all those events in one
coat of arms, so the choice was made to depict the bear, the war
axe and the shield charged with small cross. The war axe and the
figure of the bear taken over from the coat of arms of Samogitia
symbolise the victory of the Samogitians over the Teutonic Order.
The shield with crosses is the symbol of the Hill of Crosses as
well as the determination of the land to protect the values of
Christianity. The silver colour of the bear represents the
historical colour of the Samogitian war flag, the azure of the
Trakai land flag. They remind the double administrative
dependence of Siauliai land. The golden colour is a
characteristic colour of nobility, the black - of education and
science. The final design is made by Rolandas Rimkunas: the
silver bear with a golden axe in his claws and a shield charged
with golden and black crosses at his left shoulder on a field of
azure. The tongue of the bear is red and his claws are golden.
In 2001 the Lithuanian Heraldry Commission was addressed to
create the coat of arms and the flag for the District. The
symbols of the District were confirmed by the President of the
Republic of Lithuania on February 19, 2002."
Audrius Slapsinskas, 24 June 2003
sa-sa.gif)
by Audrius Slapsinskas, 19 June 2003
Three rural areas - Ginkunai, Kursenai and Siauliai Rural
Districts do not have their own coats of arms. These territories
are breathly presented at DISTRICT OF SIAULIAI AND ITS
CONTEMPORARY HERALDRY [lal02].
"Ginkunai - There are no historical sources
about the period when Ginkunai is first mentioned as a
settlement. However, in the book published by J. Puzinas in 1930
coins from Rome are mentioned among other findings. In later
publications it is said that the settlement was inhabited in the
first centuries A.D. while in the 14 th - 15 th centuries it
traded with the East European countries. Presently Ginkunai is
the centre of the rural district with the population of 3,500 in
6 villages (data of 2001). Ginkunai is located 3 km to the north
west from Siauliai. The locality was named Ginkunai after
Ginkunas, local nobleman (1673). The estate of Ginkunai was
founded at the end of the 18th century and had several owners
until 1801, when it became the ownership of count Platonas
Zubovas and belonged to the Zubovai family until 1840. At the
beginning of the 19th century there was a pub, a hospital, a
blacksmith's shop, a sawmill, a dairy. In 1890 Sofija and
Vladimiras Zubovai built a manor. A school was founded there. The
Zubovai were concerned about the development of education and
cultural life in the settlement and donated part of their income
from the estate to those matters. In 1933 the primary school was
named after Sofija ir Vladimiras Zubovai. The most advanced
farming methods made the estate the model farm, the first in the
district catle control association was formed, classes on
agriculture and farming were run. Presently there is a primary
school, a library, a post office, the centre of culture in
Ginkunai.
Kursenai Rural District - The territory includes
98 villages with the population of 6,200. The biggest villages
are Drasuciai, Micaiciai, Ringuvenai, Pakumulsiai, Varputenai.
The Ketunai estate owner J. Poklevskis-Kozela built a wooden
church in Micaiciai in 1808, which was reconstructed in 1857.
Priest J. Tumas-Vaizgantas worked there in 1901-1902. In 1945
Jesus the Crucified church was closed but reopened in 1989. The
Varputenai estate is first mentioned in the 16 th century. From
1778 it belonged to the Jelenskiai family. In 1787 Matas
Jelenskis built a wooden church there. The estate was described
on several occasious by English writer Herman Old in
"Gyvenimo sokis" ("Dance of Life") in 1923,
who was taken by the beauty of the park, by Motiejus Valancius.
The territory is famous for its numerous legendary mounds and
ancient burial sites, archeological findings from which date back
to the 6th -15th centuries: Pusgudziai (Gaidpile) mound, Romuciai
mound with Svajones (Dreams) hill, Silenai mound with a water
mill and its machinery are preserved from 1923.
Siauliai Rural District - Siauliai Rural
District with the population of 7,500 includes 64 villages. The
biggest villages are Pakape, Aukstelke, Bridai, Voveriskes,
Tolociai. The estate in Aukstelke is first mentioned in 1795. The
church was built in 1885, burned down during WWI, restored in
1932 and reconstructed in 1967. The name Aukstelke is associated
with the pagan mound Aukstoji alka (Higher site of worship)
crossed by the rivulet Sventupis. Numerous legends and stories
exist about the past of the territory stones - of the road called
Ruze were so big that they were called the devil's stones. The
church in Pakape boasts of the wooden sculptures of the
Crucified, St. Barbara and a brass bell from the 19th century.
Normanciai mound close to Pakape was called Bauske (Punishment)
as serfes used to be punished there. Kebliai, Sapnagiai, Pakape
ancient burial sites are rich in various archeologic
findings."
Audrius Slapsinskas, 24 June 2003