Nida, Lithuania

File:Expozice, Naglių gatve, Nida, Neringa 02.jpg

A settlement area of the Baltic Curonians, the original place called nida ("fluent" in the Old Prussian language) was first mentioned in 1385 documents issued by the Teutonic Knights, who ruled the lands within their Monastic State. The original settlement on the road along the Curonian Spit from Königsberg to Memel was located about {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of its today's position near the Hohe Düne (High Dune) at Cape Grobštas (from Old Prussian: grabis, "hill"). After the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the fishing village became part of the Polish fief held by the Teutonic Knights until 1525,Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215 and by Ducal Prussia.

From 1701, it was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1709 nearly all of the population died from a bubonic plague epidemic. Continuously threatened by sand drifts, the village was moved away from the approaching dune to today's position in the 1730s. Incorporated into the Prussian Province of East Prussia in 1773, it became part of the German Empire upon the German unification of 1871. In 1874 a lighthouse on Urbas hill was built, later destroyed in the war and rebuilt in 1945 and 1953. In 1878, the village had a population of 655, mostly living off fishing, with fish being sold mainly to nearby Klaipėda and other coastal towns. Nida already was the largest village of the Curonian Spit. Both Lithuanian and German-language church services were held there.{{cite book|author= |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom VII|year=1886|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=37}}

File:Carl Knauf Bild.tif

File:House of Thomas Mann in Nida 02.jpg's summer house, now a museum]]

From the late 19th century, the dune landscape became popular with landscape and animal painters from the Kunstakademie Königsberg arts school. The local inn of Herman Blode was the nucleus of the expressionist artists' colony (Künstlerkolonie Nidden). Lovis Corinth sojourned there, as did Max Pechstein, Alfred Lichtwark, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Alfred Partikel.Weise, p. 159 Painters from Königsberg such as Julius Freymuth and Eduard Bischoff visited the area, as did poets such as Ernst Wiechert and Carl Zuckmayer. Other guests included Ernst Kirchner, Ernst Mollenhauer, Franz Domscheit, and Hermann Wirth. The painters usually took accommodations at Blode's hotel, and left some of their works with him. Some also built their own residences in the vicinity.

After World War I Nidden, together with the northern half of the Curonian Spit, became part of the Klaipėda Region under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, but was subsequently incorporated to Lithuania in 1923. Renamed Nida, the village nevertheless remained a predominantly German settlement;{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} the border with the remaining German (East Prussian) half of the spit lay only a few kilometers to the south.

In 1929 Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann visited Nida while on holiday in nearby Rauschen and decided to have a summer house erected on a hill above the lagoon; it was mocked by locals as Uncle Tom's Cabin. He and his family spent the summers of 1930–32 in the cottage, and parts of the epic novel Joseph and His Brothers were written there.

Threatened by the Nazis due to his political views, Mann left Germany after Hitler's Machtergreifung in 1933 and eventually emigrated to the United States. After the Klaipėda Region was again annexed by (now Nazified) Germany in 1939, his house was seized at the behest of Hermann Göring {{citation needed|date=May 2016}} and designated a recreation home for Luftwaffe officers.

File:Nida Beach 07.jpg

File:Lotmiškio g. 3 (Nida).jpg

In 1939 the town had 736 inhabitants. Like all of the Curonian Spit, Nida became nearly uninhabited as a result of the advancing Red Army, the Evacuation of East Prussia and the eventual expulsion of surviving German inhabitants. After the end of World War II, Nida again became part of then Soviet-occupied Lithuania. In the early postwar period, Nida was a little-visited fishing village. Later during the Soviet occupation, together with three other villages of the Neringa Municipality (Juodkrantė, Preila and Pervalka), Nida was a controlled-entry holiday resort reserved for the Communist party officials and elite (nomenklatura).

Since Lithuania restored its independence in 1990, the area has been open to all and the tourism has flourished. However, as Curonian Spit is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are various restrictions to protect its ecosystem and the unique architecture of towns like Nida.

Mann's summer cottage survived the war and was preserved on the initiative of the Lithuanian poet Antanas Venclova. A first memorial site was inaugurated already in 1967. During the Soviet occupation, it hosted a library open in summer only, with residential quarters of the visiting librarian posted from Klaipėda upstairs and public areas downstairs. In 1995/96 the house was restored according to the original architectural design and reopenend as a cultural center dedicated to the writer, with a memorial exhibition and an annual festival.

Klaipėda's climate is considered to be humid continental, (Köppen Dfb), although it borders quite closely to oceanic, (Köppen Cfb), when using the -3 °C isotherm, because of the proximity to the Baltic Sea, which is less prone to extreme weather events than the climate inland.

{{Weather box

|width = auto

|location = Nida, Lithuania (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1961-1990)

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|Jan record high C = 10.5

|Feb record high C = 12.9

|Mar record high C = 20.5

|Apr record high C = 26.2

|May record high C = 29.4

|Jun record high C = 32.0

|Jul record high C = 32.8

|Aug record high C = 31.2

|Sep record high C = 27.8

|Oct record high C = 20.6

|Nov record high C = 14.1

|Dec record high C = 10.9

|year record high C = 32.8

|Jan high C = 1.2

|Feb high C = 1.4

|Mar high C = 4.5

|Apr high C = 10.7

|May high C = 16.2

|Jun high C = 19.5

|Jul high C = 22.2

|Aug high C = 22.2

|Sep high C = 17.6

|Oct high C = 11.5

|Nov high C = 6.3

|Dec high C = 3.0

|year high C =

|Jan mean C = -1.0

|Feb mean C = -1.0

|Mar mean C = 1.7

|Apr mean C = 6.9

|May mean C = 12.2

|Jun mean C = 16.0

|Jul mean C = 18.9

|Aug mean C = 19.0

|Sep mean C = 14.8

|Oct mean C = 9.2

|Nov mean C = 4.4

|Dec mean C = 0.9

|year mean C =

|Jan low C = -3.2

|Feb low C = -3.2

|Mar low C = -0.7

|Apr low C = 4.0

|May low C = 9.0

|Jun low C = 13.0

|Jul low C = 16.2

|Aug low C = 16.3

|Sep low C = 12.3

|Oct low C = 7.2

|Nov low C = 2.7

|Dec low C = -1.1

|year low C =

|Jan record low C = -30.2

|Feb record low C = -31.2

|Mar record low C = -22.0

|Apr record low C = -5.9

|May record low C = -1.5

|Jun record low C = 1.4

|Jul record low C = 7.8

|Aug record low C = 5.7

|Sep record low C = 2.9

|Oct record low C = -5.5

|Nov record low C = -19.1

|Dec record low C = -22.4

|year record low C = -31.2

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 61

|Feb precipitation mm = 45

|Mar precipitation mm = 41

|Apr precipitation mm = 34

|May precipitation mm = 42

|Jun precipitation mm = 59

|Jul precipitation mm = 70

|Aug precipitation mm = 86

|Sep precipitation mm = 78

|Oct precipitation mm = 97

|Nov precipitation mm = 81

|Dec precipitation mm = 71

|year precipitation mm =

| Jan humidity = 86

| Feb humidity = 86

| Mar humidity = 82

| Apr humidity = 77

| May humidity = 75

| Jun humidity = 76

| Jul humidity = 76

| Aug humidity = 76

| Sep humidity = 78

| Oct humidity = 82

| Nov humidity = 87

| Dec humidity = 87

| year humidity =

| Jan sun = 47.2

| Feb sun = 71.6

| Mar sun = 156.6

| Apr sun = 233.7

| May sun = 303.7

| Jun sun = 288.1

| Jul sun = 300.4

| Aug sun = 278.2

| Sep sun = 197.2

| Oct sun = 117.5

| Nov sun = 47.4

| Dec sun = 34.8

| year sun =

|source 1 = Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service{{cite web |title=Klimato duomenys 1991-2020|url=https://www.meteo.lt/klimatas/lietuvos-klimatas/klimato-duomenys/ |website=Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnyba |language=lt}}

|source 2 = NOAA (extremes){{cite web

| url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/RA-VI/LU/26603.TXT

| title = Nida Climate Normals 1961–1990

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = March 22, 2015

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230430002529/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/RA-VI/LU/26603.TXT

| archive-date = 2023-04-30}}}}

File:Nidos uostas by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg with yachts]]

File:Midsummer in Nida 03.jpg in Nida]]

The town is an upmarket holiday resort, hosting about 200,000 to 300,000 tourists each summer, mostly Lithuanians, Germans, Latvians, and Russians. It is characterized by low-key entertainment and a distinct family focus. However, during recent years {{when|date=May 2019}} it has become a decent point of interest for fine electronica music and modern art shows at an eclectic forest retreat.

Since 2001, Nida Jazz Festival has been held every year. A local radio station Neringa FM streams live beats over FM and online. There are also interesting places to see nearby, including some of the highest sand dunes in Europe, a large sundial (which has been restored after being damaged by a Baltic gale), Fisherman's Ethnographic Homestead, gallery-museum of amber and a German Protestant (Evangelische) Brick Gothic church (built in 1888). There is also a campsite.

The town is known for Nidden Kurenwimpel — German for "Curonian pennants" — ornate carved flags particular to local families resident on the Curonian Spit. The flags, replicas of which can be seen around Nida, feature animal and human figures as pictograms reminiscent of a pagan writing tradition. At the local cemetery, examples of krikštas (pl. krikštai), pagan burial markers in place of tombstones, can still be seen.

Nida's beach participates in the Blue Flag Programme. Nudists make use of parts of the beach near Nida for nude bathing.{{Cite web |title= Nudist bathers fight for rights |last= Vaige |first= Laima |newspaper= The Baltic Times |date = 3 June 2009 |access-date = 2016-02-21 |url = http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22985/}}

File:Nida Bus Station in Nida, Lithuania in 2023.jpg

Nida Airport is located in the town, but it has no scheduled routes and only capable of handling small aircraft. Nida also has a seaport which is used for ferries and fishing boats.

The only road which runs along the whole length of the Curonian Spit, connecting Zelenogradsk and Smiltynė (where a ferry connection to Klaipėda exists), passes through the edge of Nida. An hourly bus runs between Nida and Smiltynė ferry terminal on that road,{{Cite web |title=Autobusų tvarkaraštis Nida - Smiltynė - Nida |url=http://www.kopos.lt/lt/tvarkarastis.php |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=www.kopos.lt}} and intercity buses to various cities like Kaliningrad, Klaipėda, Kaunas and Vilnius exist.{{Cite web |url=https://www.neringa.lt/index.php?1116339752 |title=timetables |access-date=18 August 2018 |archive-date=27 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627131826/https://www.neringa.lt/index.php?1116339752 |url-status=dead }}

• Reinhard Henkys (1928–2005), German journalist
• Tadas Sedekerskis (born 1998), Lithuanian basketball player
• Justė Zinkevičiūtė (born 1989), Lithuanian actor, writer, lifestyle teacher

File:Kurenwimpel aus Nidden (2004).JPG|Curonian pennant

File:Nidos žvejo etnografinė sodyba (2).jpg|Fisherman's Ethnographic Homestead

File:Nidos žvejo etnografinė sodyba, Nida, Neringa, Litva 2.jpg|Ethnographic house

File:Kurenhaus.jpg|Curonian house

File:Nidden Evangelische Kirche 01.JPG|Lutheran Church (built in 1888)

File:Krikstas.jpg|Krikštai (pagan burial markers) in the cemetery

File:Itališkas vaizdelis 01.jpg|The "Italian view" in Skruzdinė

File:Nida in winter.jpg|Nida in winter

File:Rozhledna Highlight v Nidě (Nidos apžvalgos bokštas „Highlight“), Neringa, Litva.jpg|Observation tower

File:Parnidžio pažintinis takas, Nida, Neringa, Litva 04.jpg|Parnidis Dune trek

File:Výhled na Litevsko-ruskou hranici, Parnidžio kopa, Litva 01.jpg|Parnidis Dune

File:Pláž Nida, velké vlny, Nida, Litva.jpg|Nida beach

• Nida Lighthouse

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Weise|first=Erich|title=Handbuch der historischen Stätten Deutschlands, Ost- und Westpreussen|trans-title= Handbook of places in Germany, East and West Prussia|language= de|edition= Reprint of the 1966|series= Kröners Taschenausgabe, Band 317 [Kröners pocket book edition, volume 317]|year=1981|orig-year= 1966|publisher=Alfred Kröner Verlag|location=Stuttgart|isbn= 978-3-520-31701-8|oclc= 36315021}}

• {{commons category-inline|Nida}}

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Category:Seaside resorts in Lithuania

Category:Artist colonies

Category:Neringa Municipality

Category:Municipalities administrative centres of Lithuania

Category:Nude beaches