Alanta (dialectal Aukštaitian name Alunta, Polish: Owanta, Yiddish אַוואָנטע) is a small town in Molėtai district municipality, Lithuania. It is the administrative seat of the Alanta Elderate. According to a census in 2011, Alanta had 348 residents.[1] It is situated at the crossing of two roads: Molėtai–Anykščiai and Utena–Alanta–Ukmergė. The town's St. Jacob's church was built in 1909.
The name of the town is derived from the Alanta River, tributary of Virinta. The name of the river is derived from an ancient Lithuanian verb "alėti", which means 'to stream merrily' or 'to run'.
The entire Jewish community of 30 families,[3] which comprised the majority of the population of Alanta, was killed during the Holocaust in August 1941.[4] Alanta has a rare, surviving wooden synagogue.[5]
Palace of Alanta estate
Renovated Alanta estate, located in Naujasodis suburb
The palace of the estate, which houses a library and an ethnographic museum, has been renovated and its park trimmed. The founder of the Alanta library, Elvyra Satkūnaitė, was named "The best librarian of Lithuania" in 1996.
References
↑"2011 census". Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania). Retrieved August 16, 2017.
↑Center for Jewish Art (2004). "Preserved Wooden Synagogues in Lithuania". The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved on December 17, 2008. "Wooden Synagogues in Lithuania". Archived from the original on 2007-08-05. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
