9 Pilies Street

Individuals

SIMONAS DAUKANTAS (1793–1864)

He was a historian, educator and an ideologue of the national revival. He graduated from the gymnasium in Vilnius in 1816. In the years 1816–1818, he studied literature at the Faculty of Literature and the Liberal Arts at Vilnius University, before transferring to the Faculty of Moral and Political Studies. He belonged to a Samogitian students collective. In 1818 he lived at the address 9 Pilies Street. One of the university’s courtyards has been named after him. He lived in Riga in 1826–1834, and in Saint Petersburg from 1835. He lived in Varniai for a while in 1850, before moving to Svirlaukis (present-day Latvia), and Papilė. Whilst still studying at university, in 1822 he wrote the first history of Lithuania in the Lithuanian language, Darbai senųjų lietuvių ir žemaičių (Deeds of the Old Lithuanians and Samogitians, printed in 1929). He condemned serfdom in his works and developed the ideas of the nation’s freedom. Daukantas collected folk songs, stories and folklore. He also compiled and released folklore anthologies, Lithuanian and other foreign language dictionaries and booklets with advice for farmers.