Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas Park

By the decision of Tauragė District Municipality Council, in 2013, the park, located near Martynas Mažvydas Evangelical Lutheran Church and Martynas Mažvydas Progymnasium in Tauragė city centre, was given the name of the Evangelical Lutheran bishop Jovas Viktoras Kalvanas (Senior).
This place wasn’t always a park. In the mid. 19th c. the land and the streets, stretching from the churchyard to the modern-day Martynas Mažvydas Progymnasium, belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran parish. During World War II, this part of the city was severely damaged and planted with trees after the war.
The pride of the park is an oak tree that is almost 200 years old. The giant tree, growing in the middle of the park, was planted at the time of placing the cornerstone for Martynas Mažvydas Evangelical Lutheran Church. The commencement of the construction is marked by the inscription 1840 in the church foundation. Under the old oak there is the Bench of Love, made and donated to the city by the community of Tauragė Vocational Training Centre.
Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas Park hosts various cultural and sports events. There is also a children’s playground and a skate park. The park itself is a non-smoking area.
There is also a monument in memory of Vincas Kudirka (1858–1899), author of the Lithuanian National Anthem, restored in 1990.
2018 marked the opening of the sculptural ex libris for the 150th birth anniversary of the philosopher, writer and cultural figure Vydūnas (1868–1953).
Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas, the honorary citizen of Tauragė District was born in 1914 in Ruobežiai village, Biržai district. He studied at Faculties of Evangelical Lutheran Theology in Kaunas and Riga. He was ordained as priest and worked at Tauragė Lutheran Church and as a Bishop of the Lithuanian Lutheran Church from 1940 until his death. In 1955, he organised the first soviet times and later, – the rest of the synods of the Lithuanian Lutheran Church. Together with other colleagues, he printed the Evangelical Lutheran Calendar, edited Lietuvos Evangelikų Kelias, as well as printed M. Luther’s Small Catechism and other publications. He also took care of the cultural heritage of the Lithuania Minor.

Compiled in 2018