Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Schmalleningken (in Lithuanian Smalininkai) was a village consisting of three parts on the Prussian-Lithuanian border until 1795. It served as a customs office for the Kingdom of Prussia in the 18th century, and was an important cross-border transit point for both water and land traffic. At the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the lands to the east of the village on the right bank of the River Nemunas were taken over by Russia, while those on the left bank became part of Prussia, which established the province of New East Prussia there. The Congress of Vienna restored the previous configuration of the border, with the only difference being that Lithuania’s place as Prussia’s neighbour was taken over by the Russian Empire, part of which on the left bank was the Kingdom of Poland. This article examines the various institutions and actors that operated in this border area, located at the intersection of three political entities, during both this transitional period and the subsequent years leading up to the Crimean War. The aim is to show what kind of contacts took place there, what forms they took, and what changes the microcosm of Schmalleningken underwent in the early 19th century. The article explores who contributed to this, and what significance the town of Jurbarkas, located on the other side of the border, had in this contact zone. It shows the role of the Christian and Jewish populations, with their somewhat different goals. Although their cultural practices differed, their interaction was based on a common understanding of the role of a nexus on the border. This role was primarily to provide services for cross-border traffic by land and on the River Nemunas, and to promote cross-border trade.

The Orthodox community which settled in the Civitas Rutenica area in Vilnius started building their houses of worship (Orthodox churches) as early as the first half of the 14th century. At the beginning of the 15th century, there were 12 of them inside the quarter and two outside it. These churches, reflecting Orthodox culture and showing the usual features of their construction, predetermined the further development of this part of the city, and the development of whole areas of Vilnius. Locating them precisely enables us to better understand the urban development of Vilnius, and trends within this development.