Marijampolė is a city in Lithuania that was originally founded as a village called Pašešupė in 1667. In the 18th century, it grew into a market town called Staropolė or Staropole. After a fire in 1768 destroyed much of the town, it was rebuilt and renamed Marijampolė after the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 19th century, the town continued growing due to Jewish and German settlers and became an important center of Lithuanian national revival during Lithuanian suppression by the Russian Empire. Currently, Marijampolė has a population that is over 95% Lithuanian.

1. Marijampol ė s City

2. Šv. Vincento Pauliečio church In Marijampole in nineteenth century Church was built and dedicated to the soldiers of King Alexander III. After the First World War Seinekių church sold to Bishop Marian. These transformed it into a church. 1940 parish was established, all southern part of town and several villages were appointed to this church. After the Second World War, the church was closed and turned into a warehouse. 1990 re-launched.

3. J.Basanavičiaus square Here was built Pašešupio village, which was first mentionet in 1667 in historical sources. Then, around 24 wooden houses stood there. XVIII cent. Kvietiškyje resident Earl Mark Anthony Butler in 1736 transformed village into a commercial Starapolės town. It soon established artisans, merchants and the innkeeper s . After a massive fire in 1868, which destroyed the main part of town, buildings out of brick was built in N eo barocco Classical Architecture style . Those buildings were severely damaged during the first and second World War. Later, the old square was reconstructed and expanded: built-mail, department stores, court, police and municipal buildings.

4. The Railway O n the eastern part of the town the re is a Marijampole Railway station .It was built under the project of engineer Edmundas Frykas in 1923 (Stoties str.2). The station is an impressive example of modern architecture. In the square of exiles, there is a stone monument painful exile to remember, built in 1996.

6. History The settlement was originally founded as a village called pašešupė ( polonized poszeszupie), after the nearby river of šešupė. As such the town was first mentioned in 1667. In 18th century the village, at that time belonging to the catholic church, grew to become a market town and its' name was changed to starpol or staropole, after a new village built for prienai starost 's guards in the vicinity in 1739. The settlement was destroyed by a fire in 1765. After the disaster the wife of contemporary starost of prienai, franciszka szczukowa née butler , financed a new church and a monastery for the congregation of marian fathers . Following the foundation of the monastery, a new town was built in the area. It was named maryampol, after the blessed virgin mary (marya-), with the suffix -pol denoting a town. On february 23, 1792 king stanislaus augustus of poland granted the "townlet of mariampol" with magdeburg law and a privilege of market organisation. Following the partitions of poland the town was briefly a part of prussia . However, after the napoleonic wars it was restored to kingdom of poland . In 19th century the town continued to grow, mostly thanks to a large number of jewish and german settlers. In 1817 the town became a seat of a separate powiat within the administrative system of the kingdom. In 1827 the town had 1759 inhabitants. By 1861 the number grew to 3718, 3015 of them being jewish. Following the january uprising and the russian suppression of the former commonwealth lands, the powiat of maryampol was seriously diminished. Around that time also the monastery gained prominence as it was the only monastery owned by the marians that was not closed down by the tsarist authorities. As the surroundings of the town were primarily inhabited by lithuanians, the town became a centre of lithuanian national revival. The proximity of prussian border made smuggling of books in lithuanian language , banned in imperial russia, easier. Among the most notable lithuanian scholars and writers active in mariampol at that time were kazys grinius , jonas jablonskis , vincas kudirka and antanas venclova . Following world war i the town became part of lithuania and was renamed to its' current name of marijampolė. During world war II the town was occupied by germany. The SS murdered most of the towns' jewish inhabitants. In the effect of the war the town was heavily damaged and almost emptied. After the war it was rebuilt and repopulated with immigrants from other parts of lithuania. Currently in marijampolė, roughly 95 % of its inhabitants are lithuanians, with 4 % being russians and less than 1 % being poles. On april 9, 1955 the authorities of lithuanian ssr once again renamed the town, this time to kapsukas, after a lithuanian communist politician vincas mickevičius-kapsukas . The old name was restored after lithuania regained her independence. The anshe shalom synagogue in chicago , illinois was founded by immigrants from marijampolė.

7. Marijampole at night