{"id":50764,"date":"2025-01-04T10:26:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T08:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trakai-visit.lt\/?post_type=naujienos&p=50764"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T07:01:44","slug":"6-ways-to-experience-karaim-culture-in-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"naujienos","link":"https:\/\/www.trakai-visit.lt\/en\/naujienos\/6-ways-to-experience-karaim-culture-in-lithuania\/","title":{"rendered":"6 ways to experience Karaim culture in Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Karaim arrived in medieval Lithuania as warriors tasked with guarding Trakai; six centuries later, you can still find their influence throughout the city\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the official declaration of the 2022 \u2018Year of the Karaim\u2019 in Lithuania, prime minister Ingrida \u0160imonyte described the Karaim people as a \u201cunique treasure\u201d, though official figures show there are only 196 living<\/strong> in the country today. Yet, despite being one of the smallest minorities in Europe, Karaim culture is still a big part of Trakai, the former Lithuanian capital (about 30km south-west of Vilnius), where they were once the city\u2019s champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1397, Vytautas, ruler of what was then the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, invited several hundred Karaim families from Crimea to Trakai to serve as its defenders and warriors. Back then, they were famed for their swordsmanship, and the Karaim were duly given the land between Trakai\u2019s two castles as reward. It is still called Karaim street to this day, and strolling here reveals wooden houses painted in yellow, green and ochre.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vytautas\u2019 castle, built on an island in Lake Galv\u0117, remains the most dramatic sight in town even now; however, Trakai eventually lost its need for an army. Once the Karaim were no longer required to be warriors, they became market gardeners and traders instead, and were famed for growing cucumbers \u2013 and where would Lithuania be without its gherkins?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Trakai Castle was built by Grand Duke Vytautas after he deemed it vital to beef up the defences of the peninsula \u2013 which also included inviting the Karaim to be its defenders (Alamy)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While many minorities suffer marginalisation or persecution, the Karaim have fared better. \u201cThe community has always had a very good name,\u201c said Karina Firkavi\u010di\u016bt\u0117, who has a house on Karaim street. \u201cWe are happy to see the highest representatives of our country come and celebrate our anniversary and congratulate us, so that our good relationship can carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also on Karaim Street is the kenesa, the Karaim place of worship. It is a compact, square building with coloured windows and a pointed roof. It\u2019s clearly neither a church nor a mosque, but it\u2019s also not a synagogue. Despite the Karaim following an Old Testament religion that draws on the Hebrew Bible, they are not Jewish. They even managed to convince the Nazis of this, so survived the tragic devastation of Lithuania\u2019s large Jewish community during the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are less than 200 Karaim in Lithuania, there are a similar number in Poland and a wider diaspora around the world \u2013 in Ukraine, Turkey, Europe and beyond. Yet their estimated global population is 3,000 at most and the Turkic Karaim language is on UNESCO\u2019s <\/strong>endangered list \u2013 by the early 2000s, there were fewer than 50 fluent speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 ways to experience Karaim culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Island Castle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising like an apparition from Lake Galv\u0117, Trakai Castle looks like something out of a fairy tale, with its orange brick walls and pointed tiled towers. It was this that the Karaim were originally invited here to defend. Today it is reached via two wooden bridges and contains the Trakai History Museum, which has a collection of weapons, pottery, glass and furniture. At the top of the castle is a room with displays about the Karaim and the Tatars, who were also invited to settle here by Vytautas. You can rent boats on the lake and take trips that encircle the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Karaim Street<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as Karaim\u0173 in Lithuanian, this is the small main street of the town, stretching from the centre towards the Island Castle. Most of the current wooden houses date from the 19th century, presumably replacing older examples. Some of them have very attractive gardens, as once the Karaim switched from being warriors to market gardeners and traders, they planted vegetable plots running down towards the lake. These have now mostly disappeared under caf\u00e9s and restaurants, but many of the residents in the street are still Karaim.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Karaim are a close-knit community and have managed to maintain a presence on colourful Karaim Street in Trakai for over 600 years (Alamy)
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

3. Kenesa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kenesa<\/a> (prayer house) is also on Karaim Street. This largely wooden building dates from the late 19th century and replaced one that burnt down in 1824. It remained in use during both Nazi and Soviet occupation, while the more modern kenesa in Vilnius, built in the early 20th century, was turned into an archive, then apartments, only to be reconsecrated after Lithuanian independence in 1993. The Trakai kenesa is a petite square structure with stained-glass windows and a pointed roof. It has an upper-floor balcony for women. Services are held on Saturday, but visitors are not encouraged. There are, however, online guides to the two kenesas.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Old Karaim Cemetery<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its overgrown gravestones and Hebrew lettering, the Karaim cemetery in Trakai is very atmospheric and looks rather like the old Jewish cemeteries of Poland and Lithuania. It is located off Zalioji Street<\/strong> on the mainland and is divided into two parts: the older northern section, which was in use from the 14th century until 1710, and the later southern one, which goes all the way up to 1932. Inscriptions in the latter start to appear in Russian and Polish rather than Karaim.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kybyn are typically filled with beef or lamb (Alamy)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

5. Karaim Ethnographic Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This museum<\/a> was set up in 1967 on Karaim Street, just up from the kenesa, but unfortunately it\u2019s been closed since July 2021 for restoration. There\u2019s no scheduled date yet for reopening, but it has Lithuania\u2019s richest collection of weapons, handicrafts, clothing, household objects, documents and photographs charting Karaim history. UPDATE:<\/strong> The Karaim Ethnographic Museum<\/a> is OPEN. Working hours: Wednesday – Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets price: for adults – 6 eur., for students and senior citizens – 3 eur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Karaim food<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karaim specialities are widespread in Lithuania. There are many places in Trakai to taste them, but only two are run by Karaim families: Kybynlar<\/a> and Kiubete<\/a>, which are both named after famous Karaim dishes. The moon-shaped kybyn pasties are filled with meat, cheese or vegetables, while the larger circular kiubete pies are said to be shaped like either the sun or a shield. Help them down with a shot of krupnik, a strong, sweet liqueur spiced with cloves and muscat nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: wanderlustmagazine.com<\/a><\/em>
Author: Simon Broughton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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