Last modified: 2008-07-19 by dov gutterman
Keywords: telsiai | alsedziai |
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The flag of the town of Alsedžiai in Plunge district,
Telsiai county, Lithuania, is at <commons.wikimedia.org>.
Alsedziai town is located in Plunge district in Telsiai county,
Lithuania. It has population of 956 and is the center of
Alsedziai eldership (seniunija) which has 1,500 inhabitants.
From <samogitia.mch.mii.lt>:
"Alsedziai, town in the province of Zemaitija (Samogitia) at the confluence of the
tributary Sruoja and the Varduva river, 13 km Northwest of
Telsiai. The population was 1,043 in 1959 (60 in 1860; 1,102 in
1903; and 1,049 in 1923). The town has a secondary school,
library, twenty-five-bed hospital, and ceramic works. 5 km to the
south is a lake by the same name (area, 80 ha; depth, 2,5 m), and
a forest stretches to the Southeast. The region is hilly and
scenic.
The town of Alsedziai is first mentioned in historical chronicles
in 1253, but it is known that a settlement existed on this
location from a much earlier time. Archaeological discoveries on
the territory of the town include a bone dagger from the
Mesolithic period. After the founding of the Diocese of
Samogitia, with it’s center at Medininkai, Vytautas the
Great assigned Alsedziai and a wide surrounding area to the
bishop as a fief in 1421. With time the bishopric’s holdings
decreased in size, but as late as 1778 they still encompassed the
town of Alsedziai and Lieplauke, and approximately 9,240 ha of
land with 234 peasants and their holdings.
The wooden Church of the Immaculate Conception, the first church
of this name in Lithuania, was built in 1476. From then until the
middle of the 19th century Alsedziai was a favorite residence of
the bishops of Samogitia. In the 16th century it was the home of
one of the most notable Lithuanian bishops, Merkelis Giedraitis,
known as the Apostle of Samogitia. The last bishop to live in
Alsedziai was Bishop-Elect John Gentila, who headed the diocese
from 1844-50. He had collected a library of about 20,000 volumes
there; at the time this was one of the largest and best private
libraries in Lithuania. Bishop Motiejus Valancius, who became
head of the diocese on 1850, chose not to reside in Alsedziai.
Under the Republic of Lithuania, Alsedziai became the township
seat and belonged to the country of Telsiai. The township
comprised 60 hamlets with 1,117 homesteads and 6,362 inhabitants.
After World War II, Soviet occupation authorities assigned
Alsedziai to the district of Plunge and made it the
administrative center of the local collective farm."
Valentin Poposki, 6 March and 11 June 2007
