Знаки конфессионального наследия Восточной Пруссии в Клайпедском крае

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Epitafijos; Kapinės; Klaipėdos kraštas [Klaipeda region]; Konfesinis palikimas; Konfesinis paveldas; Rytų Prūsija [East Prussia]; Cemeteries; Confessional heritage; East Prussia; Epitaphs; Klaipeda region.

ENProtestant-origin culture and tradition appeared in East Prussian territories at the beginning of the 16th C. The North-East part of East Prussia was named Lithuania Minor (or Prussian Lithuania), and its lands (Klaipėda region), situated on the right bank of the river Nemunas were separated from the German Reich after the Versailles Peace Treaty in 1919. East Prussia can be characterized as a multicultural and multilingual region, where the most significant are the traces of German and native Lietuvininkai peoples life in the past. Confessional heritage is based here on particular tangible and intangible inheritance, well-known by its historical and cultural values, and formed during the last few centuries. The article deals with the physical remains of East Prussia's confessional heritage in contemporary Klaipėda region. The two most important objects are emphasized hereby. The first one is Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the second one is historical Klaipėda region cemeteries. The remains of tombstones and epitaphs with texts both in Lithuanian and German languages here show us clear evidence of the unique cultural, social and national history of this region. [From the publication]