page_title: Kristijonas Donelaitis
section_title: Life in Tollmingkehmen
hierarchical_section_title: Kristijonas Donelaitis / Life in Tollmingkehmen
caption_attribution_description: English: Chistye Prudy in Kaliningrad oblast. Museum of Kristijonas Donelaitis Lietuvių: Tolminkiemis, dab. Čistyje Prudy, Kaliningrado sritis, Kristijono Donelaičio muziejus
context_page_description: Kristijonas Donelaitis was a Prussian Lithuanian poet and Lutheran pastor. He lived and worked in Lithuania Minor, a territory in the Kingdom of Prussia, that had a sizable Lithuanian-speaking minority. He wrote the first classic Lithuanian language poem, The Seasons, which became one of the principal works of Lithuanian poetry. The poem, a classic work of Lithuanian literature, depicts everyday life of Lithuanian peasants, their struggle with serfdom, and the annual cycle of life.
context_section_description: Donelaitis lived in Tollmingkehmen from 1743 until his death in 1780. At the time, the parish of Tollmingkehmen had around 30 villages with around 3,000 residents. The population was about two-thirds German and one-third Lithuanian. In 1744, Donelaitis married Anna Regina Ohlefant, widow of the school rector in Stallupönen. In 1747, he worked to restore the rectory, and built a new brick church in 1756. In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, Donelaitis and his parishioners retreated to the Romincka Forest to hide from the advancing Imperial Russian Army. When he returned to the town, Donelaitis refused to preach praises to the Russian Tsar. After the war he rebuilt a burned school and sponsored construction of a shelter to widows. His hobbies included building thermometers and barometers, and constructing pianos and clavichords. He died, aged 66, in Tollmingkehmen, East Prussia.
caption: Inside the former Lutheran church of Tollmingkehmen, built by Donelaitis. In 1964, it was transformed into a memorial museum of Donelaitis.
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