Editing Kaunas (section)

==Parks, leisure, and cemeteries==
[[File:VMU Botanical Garden in Kaunas 2019-07-15.jpg|thumb|left|[[Vytautas Magnus University Botanical Garden]]]]
[[File:Jiesios piliakalnis 2007-06-09.JPG|thumb|right|[[Napoleon's Hill]]]]
The city of Kaunas has a number of parks and public open spaces. It devotes 7.3% of its total land acreage to parkland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aplinka.kaunas.lt/?pg=39&lang=1&menu_id=11|title=Aplinkos apsauga. Kauno miesto savivaldybė; Kauno miesto želdynų sistemos formavimas|access-date=11 December 2010|language=lt|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722151617/http://aplinka.kaunas.lt/?pg=39&lang=1&menu_id=11|archive-date=22 July 2011}}</ref> [[Ąžuolynas]] (literally, "Oak Grove") park is a main public park in the heart of Kaunas. It covers about 63 hectares and is the largest urban stand of mature oaks in Europe. To protect the unique lower landscape of [[Kaunas Reservoir]], its natural ecosystem, and cultural heritage [[Kaunas Reservoir Regional Park]] was established in the eastern edge of Kaunas in 1992.

By the initiative of a prominent Lithuanian zoologist [[Tadas Ivanauskas]] and biologist [[Constantin Andreas von Regel|Constantin von Regel]] the [[Vytautas Magnus University Botanical Garden|Botanical Garden]] was founded in 1923.<ref name="VMABG">{{cite web |title=VDU Botanical garden |url=https://visit.kaunas.lt/en/see-and-do/sights/nature/vdu-botanical-garden/ |website=Visit.Kaunas.lt |access-date=18 January 2023}}</ref> It serves not only as a recreational area for public, but also serves as a showcase for local plant life, and houses various research facilities.<ref name="VMABG"/> In addition, Kaunas is home to [[Kaunas Zoo]], the only state-operated [[zoo]] in all of Lithuania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Apie Mus |url=https://www.zoosodas.lt/apie-mus/ |website=Lietuvos zoologijos sodas |access-date=18 January 2023 |language=lt}}</ref>

Lithuania's premiere last resting place formally designated for graves of people influential in national history, politics, and arts is [[Petrašiūnai Cemetery]] in Kaunas. It is also the burial site of some [[Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania|signatories of the 1918 Act of Independence]]. There are four old [[Jewish cemeteries of Kaunas|Jewish cemeteries]] within city limits. Furthermore, since 1959 there is the [[Ramybė Park]] which is a [[public park]] located in the territory of the Kaunas City Old Cemetery, which was established in 1847.

On 23 September 2018, [[Pope Francis]] visited Kaunas' [[Santakos Park]] as part of a tour of the Baltic states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intertlc.co.uk/news/santakos-park-in-kowno-lithuania-secured-by-tlc-fencing-during-pope-francis-visit/|title=Santakos Park in Kaunas, Lithuania, Secured by TLC Fencing During Pope Francis' Visit|access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref>