Place · city

Kaunas

Also known as Kovno

Kaunas, historically Kovno, is the second-largest city of Lithuania, at the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas rivers. Grown around a 14th-century castle, it was the seat of the German Ober Ost military administration during the First World War and served as Lithuania's temporary capital from 1920 to 1939, while Vilnius was held by Poland. Its interwar modernist architecture is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kaunas
Image: BigHead · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 profiles

Grand Duchy of LithuaniaMilitaryRepublic of LithuaniaSocioeconomy, Governance, Impact, Summary

Mentioned in 5 state histories

Ober OstRepublic of LithuaniaRepublic of Lithuania (1918-1940)Reichskommissariat OstlandProvisional Government of Lithuania (1941)

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kaunas. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kaunas
MLA
“Kaunas.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kaunas. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kaunas.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kaunas.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kaunas’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kaunas (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻