Kedainiai is the only provincial city in Lithuania with an Old Town made of brick and stone. It's in the geographical center of the country at where the river Nevėžis and its tributaries Dotnuvėlė, Smilga and Obelis come together.

It first appeared in written sources in 1372 and developed quite fast towards the end of that century. According to legends, the town owns its name to the wealthy merchant Keidangen, who came from Kuršas and established a small fishing village.

The Gothic Church of St. George, which replaced a pagan sanctuary ca 1445-1460, has a yard with a lovely view of the river and the Old Town on the other side. In some places the walls of the church are 1.35 meters thick, indicating that it was once cast in a defense role. The town flourished under the family Radziwill from the mid-15th century.

Magdeburg rights

It became the administrative center of Samogitia in 1535, and one of the country’s first and largest Reformation centers during the last half of the 16th century. Increased trade along the Kaunas-Riga road and other favorable conditions brought Hansa merchants and European craftsmen to the town in the 15th century.

It acquired Magdeburg city rights and a coat of arms in 1590. The lively commercial and artisan city had six marketplaces, and still retains some of its old sites and names; Didžioji, Senoji, Jonušavos, Knypavos markets. A bridge connecting the two parts of the city emerged across the Nevėžis in 1602.

A Calvinist school built in (1625), restructured into a high school in 1629. A printing-house issuing Reformation literature appeared in 1652. Orthodox believers, Jews, German Lutherans and Scottish Reformationists settled here in the first half of the 17th century. They changed Kedainiai into a multi-ethnic city.