Vincas Pietaris

Vincas Pietaris ( – 3 October 1902) was a Lithuanian doctor and writer active during the Lithuanian National Revival. He is best known as the author of Algimantas, the first Lithuanian historical novel.

Biography Vincas Pietaris was born on in the village of Žiūriai, then part of the Russian Empire (modern-day Vilkaviškis District). He was the youngest child of his family.

Pietaris learned to read and write at home with a private village teacher (daraktorius in Lithuanian). He began attending primary school in Pilviškiai in 1859. In 1870 he received a government stipend to study in Moscow. After his studies, Pietaris married Maria Nikolayevna Kosovich, with whom he had six children. From 1879 to 1883 Pietaris worked as a doctor in Demyansk, his wife's hometown. Pietaris also researched diseases such as tuberculosis and typhus, for which he developed effective cures. Pietaris could draw, paint, and play the violin. He translated 's Trzy nauki gospodarskie, which was published in Ragainė. Pietaris briefly lived in Kaunas in 1896, where he raised his six children before leaving them in the city to return to Ustyuzhna. He also briefly taught at the Ustyuzhna Girls' Gymnasium from 1901 to 1902.

Pietaris died in Ustyuzhna on 3 October 1902.

Remembrance A street in was named after him in 1924. In 1970, a memorial plaque was uncovered in the old town of Kaunas. The plaque was destroyed in 2004. In 2002, a cenotaph dedicated to Pietaris was uncovered in the Marijampolė old cemetery by Stanislovas Gediminas Ilgūnas.