Gelgaudiškis
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| Gelgaudiškis | |||
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  Gelgaudiškis
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Lithuania |
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| Ethnographic region | Sudovia | ||
| County | Marijampolė County | ||
| Municipality | Šakiai district municipality | ||
| Elderate | Gelgaudiškis elderate | ||
| Capital of | Gelgaudiškis elderate | ||
| First mentioned | 15th | ||
| Granted city rights | 1958 | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| - Total | 1,985 | ||
| - Rank | 78 | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
Gelgaudiškis (pronunciation ) (Polish: Giełgudyszki) is a city in Šakiai district municipality, Lithuania. It is 15 km north of Šakiai (Polish: Szaki). The city is just south of Neman River.
[edit] History
Before the end of the 14th Century the area of Giełgudyszki (Gelgaudiškis) settlement and manor, positioned on the upper bank of Neman, belonged to crown land of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1504, King and Grand Duke Aleksander Jagiellon gave it away as a gift to his royal secretary Sapieżyc, progenitor to the szlachta family of Sapieha. Afterwards, the grange belonged to families of Massalski, Dembiński, Oziembłowski, Giełgud, Czartoryski, the Prussian barons von Keudell, and finally Komar family (till the beginning of First World War). In the interwar period, the establishment was nationalized and housed an orphanage and later a school.
The classicist palace was built in the first half of the 19th Century by the family of von Keudell. After the fire of 1979 the palace was rebuilt and since remains unoccupied. It is surrounded by a garden and forested park with an area of 112 ha leading to Neman River.
The city and nearby castle is mentioned in John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography, (by Sheridan Morely), as being the actors ancestral home and from where his family name originated.
[edit] Links
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