Kaunas Old town and the 9th fort

  • Old town - Covering a total of 106 hectares or thereabouts, is dominated by a majestic, often crumbling mix of Gothic and Renaissance-style structures with a cluster of 16th century merchant houses around the town hall. The main street, Vilniaus, was in its day way back in the 13th century, a highway linking the city with Vilnius.
  • The 9th Fort This late 19th century fort was the ninth in a series constructed by the Russians to defend the western border of their empire. Under Nazi occupation Jews were imprisoned here before execution in the killing fields behind. During the Soviet years a typically bland concrete museum commemorating the genocide of the ‘Soviet people’ was built here. Jews were never specifically mentioned. It’s now the site of a museum, focusing on both the extermination of Jews as well as the deportations of Lithuanians by the Soviets