Seredžius

Town

Coat of arms

Seredžius

Location of Seredžius

Coordinates: 55°5′N 23°25′E / 55.083°N 23.417°ECoordinates: 55°5′N 23°25′E / 55.083°N 23.417°E

Lithuania

Jurbarkas district municipality

Eldership

Seredžius eldership

Capital of

Seredžius eldership

Population (2001)

• Total

749

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Seredžius (see other #Names) is a town in Lithuania on the right bank of the Neman River near its confluence with the Dubysa River. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 749.

The Yiddish name for the city was סרעדניק (Srednik), corresponding to the Polish Średniki and Russian Средники (Sredniki). In local Samogitian dialect the town is known as Seredius. Other recorded forms of the town's name include Srednike, Seredzhyus, Seredzhus and Seredius. The name Seredžius is believed to be derived from середа (sereda), a word meaning "Wednesday" in many Slavic languages. This is probably because of the markets held there on Wednesday.

Southeast of the town, archaeologists discovered graves from the 3rd–4th centuries. According to the Palemonids legend, noble refugees from the Roman Empire settled on the hill, now named after Palemon, and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The town has a large hillfort where Pieštvė fortress stood during the Lithuanian Crusade. It was attacked by the Teutonic Knights numerous times in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. After the Battle of Grunwald, the location lost its military purpose and became private property of the Sapieha family.

The Sapiehas built a residential palace, which did not survive. The town's first Catholic church was built around 1608–12. The church was destroyed in 1829 after a landslide caused by extensive flooding. The residents built a wooden church, which was replaced by a Neo-Renaissance church dedicated to John the Baptist in 1913.

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Wikipedia