Kėdainiai Old Town

Kėdainiai belonged to the Radvila family, who as Calvinist magnates encouraged settlement by people of several confessions, and the old town preserves the result within a few streets: the Reformed church holding the Radvila mausoleum with sarcophagi in the crypt, a Lutheran church built by German craftsmen, Catholic St George's from the fifteenth century, and two surviving synagogues from a Jewish community that was substantial here for centuries and is commemorated in a museum in one of them. The Great Market square, the old apothecary and the Scottish merchants' quarter complete a compact centre restored over recent decades. Kėdainiai is also known nationally for cucumbers, celebrated with a festival. It is a straightforward stop between Kaunas and the north.

What you actually see

• The Radvila mausoleum - sarcophagi in the crypt of the Reformed church.
• Four communities' buildings - Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic and Jewish side by side.
• The Great Market square - the restored centre with its old houses.
• The synagogue museum - the multicultural centre in the old Jewish quarter.

When to go

May to September for walking the old town; the cucumber festival in July is the town's big event. Museums close on Mondays and keep short winter hours.

Honest expectations

The old town is small and can be walked in an hour. Several buildings are locked outside museum hours, including the mausoleum crypt. The modern town around is unremarkable. Interpretation is better than at most Lithuanian towns but still limited in English.

Nearby

Kaunas lies south; Panevėžys is north.