I have been working as a personal tour guide in Kaunas for a while now and I noticed that some sights are overrated by tourists because they are well promoted on internet, while others that aren’t promoted on the web usually are completely forgotten. I will try to change it a little, so here I give you a list of interesting sights that tourists don’t know about in Kaunas. I will be updating it regularly. Check the map down the page to see the location of each sight (interactive version coming soon).
1. Kaunas old town wall and tower. This is the wall that officially separates old town from rest of the city. It was built during medieval to protect the city from foes.
2. Church of St. Gertrude. Built in XVth century this gothic church is hidden in the least place you would expect. It is almost completely surrounded by administrative buildings and is very hard to notice if you don’t know where to look. Actually someone tried to hide this church. During the soviet occupation Christian church propagated independence ideas between Christians. This was a threat to soviet regime and encouraged soviet government to fight the religion. This church was chosen to be demolished step by step. At first, soviets planned to build a complex of administrative houses completely surrounding the church making it impossible to function. So that when the time comes it could be demolished without causing a huge fuss. However this plan failed. After the construction of administrative houses began, unexpected large protest occurred, stopping the workers. Soviets managed to complete three out of four administrative building around the church, but failed to surround it completely and prevent it from functioning and spreading independence ideas. Nodaway this church is a symbol of independence for many Lithuanians.
3. Pope John Paul II memorial, memorizing his visit to Lithuania, Kaunas in 1993. Located behind St George church, near Kaunas castle this sights is surprisingly often missed by tourists.
4. The house where Napoleon stayed after his army crossed Nemunas River starting war with Russia in 24th of June 1812.
Map (interactive coming soon) (click on photo to extend it)
