Veliuona

Veliuona
Town
Seal
Veliuona
Coordinates: 55°4′56″N 23°16′16″E
Country	Lithuania
County	Tauragė County
Population  (2011)
• Total	726
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Veliuona (Samogitian: Veliouna, Polish: Wielona, German: Wehlonen) is a small town on the Nemunas River in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania.

History

Veliuona (also known as Junigeda) was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg. The town is primarily known as the burial place of Gediminas. An old church, founded by Vytautas the Great in 1421, was rebuilt and enlarged in 1636. In 1501–1506 Veliuona was granted Magdeburg rights by the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Alexander Jagiellon. In the 18th century Veliuona belonged to prince Józef Poniatowski, in the 19th century to the Zalewski family.

Gallery

• 
  Veliuona from west
• 
  Gediminas tombstone
• 
  Vytautas the Great Monument
• 
  Veliuona in 19th century

References

• (in Lithuanian) Veliuona, 2001, Versme, 1176 p.

External links

• (in Russian) Велона — Velona