History of the University of Lithuania

On February 16, 1922, the University of Lithuania, which served as the foundation for modern higher education institutions, was solemnly opened in Kaunas. The statute, adopted on March 24 of the same year, legitimized the autonomy of the university.

The university consisted of the faculties of Humanities, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Medicine, Law, Engineering as well as Theology and Philosophy, and a small Faculty of Evangelical Theology operated from 1925 to 1936. University facilities gradually developed: a library was opened, eventually becoming the largest library, containing the largest number of rarities in Lithuania at that time. Moreover, the Botanical Garden was established in Aukštoji Freda, the building of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry was built in Aleksotas, and the Clinics complex was established in Žaliakalnis.

Strong and creative student unions and corporations, such as Ateitininkai, Neo-Lithuanians, as well as other faculty, regional, or national minority associations and organizations, actively operated at the university. The Student Representative Council, which started operating in 1925, took care of the affairs of all university students and the representation of Lithuanian students both in Lithuania and abroad. An Academic Sports Club, Academic Tourism Club and a University Choir were established.

Writer Juozapas Albinas Herbačiauskas among the students of the University of Lithuania in 1928.

On June 7, 1930, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great, the University of Lithuania was granted the name of Vytautas Magnus University. On the same day, a new university statute was adopted.

Moments of students of re-established Vytautas Magnus university in 1991–2002