Wiemer Hill

The citizens of Tauragė respectfully refer to the hill on the picturesque bank of Jūra River at the outskirts of Tauragė Old Town as the hill of August Wiemer (1886–1942), an Evangelical Lutheran priest and promoter of education in this area. Accordingly, the surrounding territory is referred to as “Vymerinė”, based on the Lithuanian version of his name. This is one of the oldest and most beautiful locations in the city.
The first information on the part of the city, which features the green Wiemer Hill, dates back to the early 16th c.
The wave of reformation, which took over Lithuania in the mid. 16th c. could be felt in Tauragė as well. In 1567, Merkelis Šemeta, owner of Pajūris (Tauragė) Manor, established an Evangelical Lutheran parish on the left bank of Jūra River with a church and a house for the priest. The church burned down during the great fire of 1782, was later rebuilt, but destroyed by a huge fire of 1836 again. The new stone masonry church was built and consecrated in 1843, outside the city. The parsonage and its land remained in the old location. During the years of the prohibition of Lithuanian press people used to hide the banned press on the hill.
As of 1911, Tauragė Evangelical Lutheran Parish, which was the largest in Lithuania, was led by August Wiemer, a well-educated and open-minded priest. The large Wiemer family lived in the parsonage on the hill. The parsonage was surrounded by a huge garden with a plank fence and three ponds, arranged in descending order, with swans swimming in the water. During the Soviet era, the building was nationalised, later burned down.
In 1976 the embankment of Jūra River nearby Wiemer Hill was decorated with an ensemble of oak sculptures, created by folk artists from Tauragė, called Victory. Work. Peace. In 1979, the city established a summer stage at the foot of the hill. It hosts song festivals, concerts and various events. On 30 October 1988 and 10 June 1989, the summer stage hosted massive meetings of the Lithuanian National Revival Movement activists. In 1977, instead of a burnt rectory building, a new one was built. The regional folk artists’ club Versmė and the city library which was named after A. Wiemer in 1994, settled in the building. In 1992, the parsonage building and the land under restitution actwere returned to the Tauragė Evangelical Lutheran community.
In the autumn of 2002, near the parish building, the community has built a monument – an improvised belfry in memory of the first Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tauragė. The open belfry has a 500 kg bell, donated by the Germans. Near the monument, there is a wayside shrine in memory of the Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas (1914–1995).
A. Wiemer was born on 16 December 1869, in Vilkaviškis district, Bartninkai volost, Geistoriškiai village. Despite being of German descent, he strengthened the Lithuanian National Revival Movement, as well as collected and wrote down melodies of Evangelical Lutheran hymns. He also organised the first Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran consistory. In 1921, together with J. Vilkaitis, the burgomaster and pedagogue of Tauragė city, he organised courses for primary teachers, which later grew into Tauragė Teachers’ Seminary. The priest and educator died on 1 April 1942.
The street along the parsonage was named after A. Wiemer.

Compiled in 2018