Venta is a small city in
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
in the
Akmenė district municipalityAkmenė district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It lies in the northwest of the country, with administrative centre in Naujoji Akmene and borders Latvia in the north, Joniškis district municipality in the east, Šiauliai district municipality in the southeast, Telšiai...
. According to 2005 data there are 3,221 people living in Venta. It is situated along the
Venta RiverVenta River is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia....
,
KuršėnaiKuršėnai is the twenty-fifth largest city in Lithuania. It has a unique trait since it is the only city in Lithuania that has two train stations.- Famous people :* Stasys Raštikis, Lithuanian army general...
-
MažeikiaiMažeikiai is a city in the north-western Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 45,300, making it the 8th largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of Mažeikiai district municipality in Telšiai County...
highway, and a railroad connecting Mažeikiai with
ŠiauliaiŠiauliai , is the fifth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 129,075. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania...
(the train station is called
AkmenėAkmenė is a city in northern Lithuania.Town became famous when geologists found large reserves of limestone and clay there and in 1947 construction work was begun on one of the biggest cement production complexes in the Baltic States...
). This makes Venta better situated than
Naujoji AkmenėNaujoji Akmenė is a new town that was established in 1952 and is therefore one of the newest cities in Lithuania. Its name means the New Akmenė. It is an industrial base with concrete as its main product, with Public company Akmenės cementas producing 700,000 tonnes of concrete annually...
, the capital of the district.
The town grew after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
together with a
limeCalcium oxide , commonly known as burnt lime, lime or quicklime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic and alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature. As a commercial product, lime often also contains magnesium oxide, silicon oxide and smaller amounts of aluminium oxide and...
factory which later produced
brickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using mortar.-History:The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7,500 B.C. They have been found in Çayönü, in the upper Tigris region, and in south east Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. Other more recent findings,...
s. At its peak the factory employed about 1,000 people.
Venta is a small city in
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
in the
Akmenė district municipalityAkmenė district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It lies in the northwest of the country, with administrative centre in Naujoji Akmene and borders Latvia in the north, Joniškis district municipality in the east, Šiauliai district municipality in the southeast, Telšiai...
. According to 2005 data there are 3,221 people living in Venta. It is situated along the
Venta RiverVenta River is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia....
,
KuršėnaiKuršėnai is the twenty-fifth largest city in Lithuania. It has a unique trait since it is the only city in Lithuania that has two train stations.- Famous people :* Stasys Raštikis, Lithuanian army general...
-
MažeikiaiMažeikiai is a city in the north-western Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 45,300, making it the 8th largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of Mažeikiai district municipality in Telšiai County...
highway, and a railroad connecting Mažeikiai with
ŠiauliaiŠiauliai , is the fifth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 129,075. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania...
(the train station is called
AkmenėAkmenė is a city in northern Lithuania.Town became famous when geologists found large reserves of limestone and clay there and in 1947 construction work was begun on one of the biggest cement production complexes in the Baltic States...
). This makes Venta better situated than
Naujoji AkmenėNaujoji Akmenė is a new town that was established in 1952 and is therefore one of the newest cities in Lithuania. Its name means the New Akmenė. It is an industrial base with concrete as its main product, with Public company Akmenės cementas producing 700,000 tonnes of concrete annually...
, the capital of the district.
The town grew after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
together with a
limeCalcium oxide , commonly known as burnt lime, lime or quicklime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic and alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature. As a commercial product, lime often also contains magnesium oxide, silicon oxide and smaller amounts of aluminium oxide and...
factory which later produced
brickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using mortar.-History:The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7,500 B.C. They have been found in Çayönü, in the upper Tigris region, and in south east Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. Other more recent findings,...
s. At its peak the factory employed about 1,000 people. The city was formed when Bauskas and Purviai villages were joined in 1966. After the 1990 declaration of independence, the factory faced severe financial difficulties while shifting from
planned economyA planned economy or directed economy is an economic system in which the state or workers' councils manage the economy. It is an economic system in which the central government makes all decisions on the production and consumption of goods and services...
to free market. The factory's departments were made into separate companies. Some went bankrupt and their buildings were destroyed; others were
privatizedPrivatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector...
. In 1999 a public company, "
Naujasis kalcitas" (English:
The New CalciteCalcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 470°C, and vaterite is even less stable....
; the only manufacturer of
quicklimeCalcium oxide , commonly known as burnt lime, lime or quicklime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic and alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature. As a commercial product, lime often also contains magnesium oxide, silicon oxide and smaller amounts of aluminium oxide and...
in Lithuania, supplying 50-55% of the domestic market) purchased and reconstructed a remaining lime burning technology line with rotary kiln. Recently a new heating facility using
natural gasNatural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills...
was built to provide heat for the city.
Culture
The city has a high school (established 1907), which started with about 20 students. Studies lasted 4 years and commenced in November when all field jobs have finished. Classes were held in
RussianRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
. In 1940, as the number of students grew to 40, the school moved to a new building and was renamed Dabikinė Elementary School. The building belonged to a railroad company and was not fitted for school, but the war prevented the reconstruction. In 1949 the number of students reached 120 and the school was reorganized into a 7-year school. The railroad building was too small and the school was forced to rent two other buildings more than 1 kilometer apart. In 1953-54 the school was reorganized again as a high school. In 1960 a spacious new building was opened. At that time the school had 330 students and about 20 teachers. In 1972 a new expansion was build with a
gymThe word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
and 14 new classrooms. The school currently employs about 50 teachers. It is known for being active in various projects and for students who do well on various national science
OlympicsThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
.
In 1961 a public library was established in Venta. It started with 6,150 books and grew to 18,000 in 2000. In 1996 it won the second place in "
Biblioteka - kultūros centras" (English:
Library - cultural center) contest organized by the Open Society Fund Lithuania. A club, "
Ventos mūzų malūnas", was established by the library and gathers people interested in art and poetry.
Juozas MiltinisJuozas Miltinis was a Lithuanian theatre director and founder of the Panevėžys Drama Theatre. Miltinis has brought up a number of actors.-Biography:...
(1907–1994) was born in what is now Venta.
Music traditions
Venta music school has a traditional Lithuanian music assemble "
Ventukai". Its members are mostly local youth ranging from 9 to 20 years old. In 2004 it became famous after appearing in a popular song contest
Nacionalinė Muzikos Lyga (commonly abbreviated as NML; English: National Music League) on
LNKLNK TV, also known as Laisvas ir Nepriklausomas Kanalas , is one of the major commercial TV channels in Lithuania. It was founded in 1995. It has a sister channels TV1, Info TV and Liuks!- Shows :*1 vs...
, one of the biggest TV stations in Lithuania. Critics expected that they would be voted off in the first round, but they successfully reached the finals and won the contest on May 29. It received the first prize of 275,000
litasThe Lithuanian litas is the currency of Lithuania. It is divided into 100 centų...
. Later that year they released a CD,
Keliaujam su daina (
We Are Travelling With Songs), with 16 fast, upbeat songs. They have made appearances across Lithuania and in other countries including
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. In 2004 they made their one-thousandth concert in Venta.
External links