MEDIA
Vilkaviškis
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Good day, dear God,
My cows have no hay,
You gave Adam Eve,
So now give me some hay. (Juozas Tysliava, 1930)

Vilkaviškis - Kybartai.
Vilkaviškis. Vilkaviškis Seminary. As soon as the independence of Lithuania was declared, the Polish army occupied Seinai and expelled the seminarians and the bishop. On the initiative of Bishop Antanas Karosas, the construction of a new seminary began. In 1930, the library and 60 seminarians moved into the huge seminary building in Vilkaviškis. In 1944, the Vilkaviškis Seminary was nationalised and a sewing factory was established there. Who has not heard about the popular jeans from Vilkaviškis during the Soviet era? The sewing factory is still open today. It was named Žemkalnija in the honour of Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.
Jewish Hebrew High School in Vilkaviškis. During the interwar years, 6,500 Jews lived in Vilkaviškis, accounting for about half of the town’s population. At one point, even the mayor of the city was Jewish.
Vilkaviškis railway station was designed by Edmundas Frykas in the historical modernist style. It housed the station director’s apartment, a post office, and a shop during the interwar period.
Kybartai. Wooden fire station in Kybartai. The neo-renaissance Kybartai Church of the Eucharistic Savior has seven altars, the main one of which was designed by Bronius Pundzius. The architect - Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.
Kybartai railway station, formerly known as Virbalis railway station, has been compared to St Petersburg station. This is where the Tsar used to keep his private train while changing onto European tracks. President Antanas Smetona also retreated to Germany through Kybartai.

What people say
from the eye and from the heart
Dr. Kastytis Antanaitis,
historian, VMU
Depending on the bishop, both the procedure and the requirements differed. If in the centre of Kaunas you could eat meat during Lent, and go to the theatre, in the diocese of Vilkaviškis everything was much more conservative and closer to the understanding of an ordinary countryman of the time.
Jolita Kančienė,
architectural historian
It is very difficult to find authenticity in the former Vilkaviškis Seminary. It has been a sewing factory since 1944, and everything has been adapted to accommodate looms and machinery, the partitions have been dismantled, and the entire structure of the corridor and classrooms has been transformed.
Assoc Prof Dr Kastytis Antanaitis,
historian, VMU
Both Virbalis and Vilkaviškis may not be the smuggling capitals of Lithuania, as Tauragė would be more likely to claim that title, but it is the second most criminally notorious region. Nearly everyone living near the border was carrying, buying or acquiring something, especially since the border was not very closely monitored.
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