The Prerequisites for the Place of Settlement Establishment
It is likely that the origins of the current city of Šiauliai were somewhere between all these castles of the defensive line and the detected early settlements. Most likely, Šiauliai was adjacent to or near the trade routes, where the first church was built, neighboured by the market square and the first buildings; thus, in a similar place where currently Šiauliai St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral and Resurrection Square with the Town Hall stand. Such practice is typical not only to Šiauliai but also to most other European and other cities. The concept ‘axis mundi’ (Latin words meaning ‘the world axis’) describes the centre of the world, in which, in various mythologies or world beliefs and religions, it is possible to find such entities as the world tree, Mount Olympus, the centre of the world, etc. However, according to the world-famous scholar in religious studies Mircea Eliade, people think the same way everywhere, regardless of religion or beliefs. Everyone discovers the centre of his world in which he builds a temple as a place uniting Heaven and Earth, and this is the place where settlements start developing, later turning into cities and states. In the case of Šiauliai, this is the first wooden church, which was later replaced by a brick church, and people continued settling near the temple. It is likely that the development of the city is to be related to the territory that is now considered the city centre.
Thus, in the surroundings of Šiauliai, the retreat of glaciers in the last glacier period and the emergence of better living conditions was followed by the development of settlements, which in the course of history turned into one formation that later became a city.
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