Linkuva: istorinė urbanistinė raida (iki 1969 m.)

LTDidžiuma tyrimų kol kas skirta Linkuvos bažnyčiai ir karmelitų vienuolynui bei tiesiogiai su jais susijusiems dalykams. Tuo tarpu miesto istorinė raida iki šiol atskleista tik pačiais bendriausiais bruožais arba fragmentiškai. Dar mažiau tyrinėta Linkuvos architektūrinė urbanistinė raida. Jai skirtas tik S. Gasparavičienės rankraštis „Linkuvos miestelio (Pakruojo rj.) istorinių-ur-banistinių tyrimų ataskaita" (V., 1996). Siekiant užpildyti tą spragą, o ir išsakyti šiek tiek kitokią nuomonę negu „Ataskaitoje" pateiktoji, ir parengta ši studija, kurioje, remiantis Lietuvos ir kai kuriais specifiniais su Linkuva susijusiais istorijos įvykiais, apibūdinama šio miesto urbanistinė raida. Būtina paminėti, kad duomenų tam nepakanka. Dažniausiai tai autentiškų faktų bei reiškinių fragmentai, kai kada net nevienodai datuojami. Tad iš jų nelengva sulipdyti daugiau ar mažiau vientisą mozaiką. Linkuvoje, kaip daugelyje istorinių vietų, nepaisant naikinančių karų bei gaisrų, išliko įvairius istorijos klodus įprasminančių materializuotų elementų. Jie padeda pažinti miesto raidą, atskleisti jo savitumus. Nuo to, kaip tie elementai - planą ir vaizdą įvairiu mastu lemiantys senieji architektūros urbanistikos objektai ar jų likučiai - bus įjungti į ateities miestą, priklausys jo patrauklumas, individualumas, istorinio ar naujo miesto įvaizdis. [Iš Pratarmės]

ENThe data we have now do not give any reason to connect the present Linkuva with the place of the same name in the Upytė pavietas (small rural district) mentioned in the Livonian Chronicle of 1371-1378. It is supposed that the beginning of Linkuva of today could have been given by the settlement founded in the second half of the 15th century where in 1500 or 1501 the Catholic church was built. It seems that the Linkuva estate in 1500 was received from Otto Grothuss to "Mykolas and Kotryna Žeimys", i. e. Mykolas Potockas and Kotryna Bialozoraitė-Potockas. The settlement was established in the junction of transit roads about 1 km to the southeast of the estate house and in the 15-16th centuries it was located near the road from Žemaitija (Samogitia, Lowlands of Lithuania) to Bauskė (through Plonėnai). The church was build on a higher place to the southeast of the settlement. The funds were given to it on March 8, 1503. In the document there was also mentioned karčema (a pub.). In the beginning of the 16th century (1506-1520) the ruler of Lithuania and Poland Grand Duke Žygimantas the Old conceded the Bialozoras the right "to establish the town of Linkuva". It created the prerequisite to develop the trade: it seems that in 1555 there was a market and were opened not less than 8 pubs. During the Valakai (one valakas averaged 21-23 ha) Land Reform (1550-1554) the spontaneous radial plan of Linkuva was not remade shaping it into rectangle. A square, having formed in the street crossing, stretched in the place of the later square and was of triangle or nearly quadrangle shape.In 1564, after the death of Ona Sangailovaitė-Bialozoras the owner of Linkuva and Plonėnai estates, her heirs took the church with all its property from the Catholics and gave it over to the Evangelists-Lutherans. When the wooden church got old they built a stone one near it. In 1599 the bishop of Samogitians Merkelis Giedraitis started a case against the Evangelists-Lutherans in order to get back the Catholics' property in Linkuva. It lasted almost one hundred years. In 1606 it was mentioned about a school in the town of the end of the 16th century. It is supposed that Linkuva suffered from the war between Lithuania and Poland on one side and Sweden on the other during the years of 1600-1629. In the January of 1626 Kristupas Radvila, the hetman of the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, pitched his tents in Linkuva. On February 29, 1634 Jurgis Tiškevičius, the bishop of Samogitians, gave over to the Carmelites of old regula the property and the stone church and established there a Carmelite monastery. During the period of 1634-1636 5 monks came to Linkuva and took from the Bialozoras up to that time got in legal form the part of the Catholic church property. On October 10, 1644, in the got back plots of land there lived 16 families, and 7 and a half of the plots were empty. At that time in the town, as it was pointed out, there was a market square of 8 rykštės (one rykštė equals 4.87 m) which belonged to two brothers Bialozoras. In the square there were 6 small shops.In the middle of the 18th century, before the war of Lithuania and Poland against Russia and Sweden the town which actively traded with Riga was already larger and its radial plan was more distinct. In the seventh decade of the 17th century there were mentioned Šeduvos and Totorių streets. In 1680, in Linkuva "measured land limits and the map of them" are not yet found. In the second half of the 17th century the Bialozoras family became Catholics and finished being at law with the Carmelites, and in 1689 the stone church at last became the property of the monastery. In the same year the made larger church and the newly built one-storeyed wooden monastery burnt down on July 24, 1690. On April 30, 1690 the ruler of Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth Jonas So-bielskis gave permission to start the main market and three periodical markets in the part of the town belonging to the Carmelites. From the point of view of economic activity possibilities that made equal the parts of Linkuva belonging to the Bialozoras and the monks. The town suffered during the war of the 18th century. In 1752 there were 29 dūmas (houses with a yard) of Catholics and 27 of Jews. The Jewish meeting house was also mentioned. In 1745 the church of Linkuva was rebuilt and during the period of 1754-1773 the joint to it stone monastery of the letter U shape was built. Made larger but unfinished church (without towers) became similar to the present church [...]. [From the publication]