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Nida | |
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Settlement | |
 Aerial view of Nida  Evangelical Lutheran Church  Curonian pennants and traditional houses  Coast of theCuronian Lagoon  Traditional wooden house | |
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 Interactive map of Nida | |
  Nida Location of Nida Show map of Lithuania Nida Nida (Baltic states) Show map of Baltic states | |
| Coordinates:55°18′12″N21°00′20″E / 55.30333°N 21.00556°E /55.30333; 21.00556 | |
| Country |  Lithuania |
| County |  Klaipėda County |
| Municipality | Neringa Municipality |
| Eldership | Juodkrantė eldership |
| First mentioned | 1358 |
| Population (2025) | |
• Total | 1,500 permanent residents[1] |
| Demonym | nidiečiai (Lithuanian) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| [2][3][4] | |
Nida (German:Nidden,Kursenieki:Nīde) is aresort settlement inLithuania, the administrative centre ofNeringa municipality. Located on theCuronian Spit between theCuronian Lagoon and theBaltic Sea, it is the westernmost point of Lithuania and theBaltic states, close to the border with the RussianKaliningrad Oblast exclave. In 2025, it had around 1500 permanent residents.[5]
A settlement area of the BalticCuronians, the original place callednida ("fluent" in theOld Prussian language) was first mentioned in 1385 documents issued by theTeutonic Knights, who ruled the lands within theirMonastic State. The original settlement on the road along the Curonian Spit fromKönigsberg toMemel was located about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of its today's position near theHohe Düne (High Dune) at Cape Grobštas (from Old Prussian:grabis, "hill"). In 1454, KingCasimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region to theKingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-TeutonicPrussian Confederation.[6] After the subsequentThirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the fishing village became a part of Poland as afief held by the Teutonic Knights until 1525,[7] and byDucal Prussia afterwards, and thus was located within thePolish–Lithuanian union andCommonwealth.
From 1701, it was part of theKingdom of Prussia. In 1709 nearly all of the population died from abubonic 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 PrussianProvince of East Prussia in 1773, it became part of theGerman Empire upon theGerman unification of 1871. In 1874 alighthouse 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 nearbyKlaipėda and other coastal settlements.[8] Nida already was the largest village of the Curonian Spit.[8] Both Lithuanian and German-language church services were held there.[8]
From the late 19th century, the dune landscape became popular withlandscape andanimal painters from theKunstakademie Königsberg arts school. The local inn of Herman Blode was the nucleus of theexpressionist artists' colony (Künstlerkolonie Nidden).Lovis Corinth sojourned there, as didMax Pechstein,Alfred Lichtwark,Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, andAlfred Partikel.[9] Painters from Königsberg such as Julius Freymuth and Eduard Bischoff visited the area, as did poets such asErnst Wiechert andCarl Zuckmayer.[9] Other guests includedErnst 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.
AfterWorld War I Nidden, together with the northern half of the Curonian Spit, became part of theKlaipėda Region under the 1919Treaty of Versailles, but was subsequently incorporated toLithuania in 1923. Renamed Nida, the village nevertheless remained a predominantly German settlement;[citation needed] the border with the remaining German (East Prussian) half of the spit lay only a few kilometers to the south.
In 1929Nobel Prize-winning writerThomas Mann visited Nida while on holiday in nearbyRauschen and decided to have a summer house erected on a hill above the lagoon; it was mocked by locals asUncle Tom's Cabin. He and his family spent the summers of 1930–32 in the cottage, and parts of the epic novelJoseph and His Brothers were written there.
Threatened by theNazis due to hispolitical views, Mann left Germany after Hitler'sMachtergreifung 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 ofHermann Göring[citation needed] and designated a recreation home forLuftwaffe officers.
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In 1939 the town[chronology citation needed][dubious –discuss] had 736 inhabitants.[9] Like all of the Curonian Spit, Nida became nearly uninhabited as a result of the advancingRed Army, theEvacuation of East Prussia and the eventual expulsion of surviving German inhabitants. After the end ofWorld War II, Nida again became part of thenSoviet-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 theNeringa Municipality (Juodkrantė,Preila andPervalka), Nida was a controlled-entry holiday resort reserved for theCommunist 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 anational park and aUNESCO World Heritage Site, there are various restrictions to protect its ecosystem and the unique architecture of settlements like Nida.
Mann's summer cottage survived the war and was preserved on the initiative of the Lithuanian poetAntanas 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 fromKlaipėda 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 behumid continental,[10] (KöppenDfb), although it borders quite closely tooceanic, (KöppenCfb), when using the -3 °C isotherm, because of the proximity to theBaltic Sea, which is less prone to extreme weather events than the climate inland.
| Climate data for Nida, Lithuania (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1961-1990) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 10.5 (50.9) | 12.9 (55.2) | 20.5 (68.9) | 26.2 (79.2) | 29.4 (84.9) | 32.0 (89.6) | 32.8 (91.0) | 31.2 (88.2) | 27.8 (82.0) | 20.6 (69.1) | 14.1 (57.4) | 10.9 (51.6) | 32.8 (91.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) | 1.4 (34.5) | 4.5 (40.1) | 10.7 (51.3) | 16.2 (61.2) | 19.5 (67.1) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.2 (72.0) | 17.6 (63.7) | 11.5 (52.7) | 6.3 (43.3) | 3.0 (37.4) | 11.4 (52.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.0 (30.2) | −1.0 (30.2) | 1.7 (35.1) | 6.9 (44.4) | 12.2 (54.0) | 16.0 (60.8) | 18.9 (66.0) | 19.0 (66.2) | 14.8 (58.6) | 9.2 (48.6) | 4.4 (39.9) | 0.9 (33.6) | 8.5 (47.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −3.2 (26.2) | −3.2 (26.2) | −0.7 (30.7) | 4.0 (39.2) | 9.0 (48.2) | 13.0 (55.4) | 16.2 (61.2) | 16.3 (61.3) | 12.3 (54.1) | 7.2 (45.0) | 2.7 (36.9) | −1.1 (30.0) | 6.0 (42.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −30.2 (−22.4) | −31.2 (−24.2) | −22.0 (−7.6) | −5.9 (21.4) | −1.5 (29.3) | 1.4 (34.5) | 7.8 (46.0) | 5.7 (42.3) | 2.9 (37.2) | −5.5 (22.1) | −19.1 (−2.4) | −22.4 (−8.3) | −31.2 (−24.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 61 (2.4) | 45 (1.8) | 41 (1.6) | 34 (1.3) | 42 (1.7) | 59 (2.3) | 70 (2.8) | 86 (3.4) | 78 (3.1) | 97 (3.8) | 81 (3.2) | 71 (2.8) | 765 (30.2) |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 86 | 86 | 82 | 77 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 76 | 78 | 82 | 87 | 87 | 81 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 47.2 | 71.6 | 156.6 | 233.7 | 303.7 | 288.1 | 300.4 | 278.2 | 197.2 | 117.5 | 47.4 | 34.8 | 2,076.4 |
| Source 1: Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service[11] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:NOAA (extremes)[10] | |||||||||||||
| Coastal temperature data for Nida | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average sea temperature °C (°F) | 3.2 (37.76) | 2.4 (36.32) | 1.6 (34.88) | 4.2 (39.56) | 9.6 (49.28) | 15.0 (59.00) | 18.5 (65.30) | 19.2 (66.56) | 17.0 (62.60) | 12.6 (54.68) | 9.1 (48.38) | 5.8 (42.44) | 9.9 (49.73) |
| Source 1: Seatemperature.org[12] | |||||||||||||
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The settlement is an upmarket holiday resort, hosting about 200,000 to 300,000 tourists each summer, mostlyLithuanians,Germans,Latvians, andRussians. It is characterized by low-key entertainment and a distinct family focus. However, during recent years[when?] it has become a decent point of interest for fineelectronica music and modern art shows at an eclectic forest retreat.
Since 2001, Nida Jazz Festival has been held every year. A local radio stationNeringa 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 largesundial (which has been restored after being damaged by a Baltic gale),Fisherman's Ethnographic Homestead, gallery-museum ofamber and a German Protestant (Evangelische)Brick Gothic church (built in 1888). There is also a campsite.
The settlement is known forNidden 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 aspictograms reminiscent of a pagan writing tradition. At the local cemetery, examples ofkrikštas (pl.krikštai), pagan burial markers in place of tombstones, can still be seen.
Nida's beach participates in theBlue Flag Programme. Nudists make use of parts of the beach near Nida for nude bathing.[13]Nida's nudist beach is frequently featured in various rankings of world's best nudist beaches.[14]
Nida Airport is located in the settlement, but it has no scheduled routes and only capable of handling small aircraft. Nida also has aseaport which is used for ferries and fishing boats.
The only road which runs along the whole length of theCuronian Spit, connectingZelenogradsk andSmiltynė (where a ferry connection toKlaipėda exists), passes through the edge of Nida. An hourly bus runs between Nida andSmiltynė ferry terminal on that road,[15] and intercity buses to various cities likeKaliningrad,Klaipėda,Kaunas andVilnius exist.[16]
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