Sightseeings

Old Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Its attractive lanes and enclosed backyards of the old town are easy to reach walking from the principal Cathedral or City Hall Squares. The craddle of town features Cathedral, still containing pre-Christian altors and holly relics of St. Casimir. On the hill the country landmark, Gediminas Castle sits. It recalls to the Grand Lithuanian Dukedom resistance to German knights’ invasion, which lasted for two centuries.

Medieval capital of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, nowadays National Historical Park, is a favourite tourist spot and ideal place for summer festivals. The old town of Trakai, which includes the Island and the Peninsula castles, surrounded by lakes, is one of the most impressive and picturesque locations in Europe. The town, situated on peninsula, is unique for its natural position and its wooden architecture. An ethnographic treasure is the surviving quarter of wooden single-storeyed houses, built by Karaites. Karaites, brought from the Crimea by Vytautas the Great in the late 14th century, inhabit Trakai to this day. The Island Castle, constructed in the 14-15th century, during the wars with Teutonic Order knights, was the residence of Grand Duke Vytautas. It was never captured by enemies. Now it houses Museum of History, supplemented by exposition of Applied Arts.

 

Kernave is one of the earliest state-forming centres in Lithuania and the pre-Christian state capital. Archeological findings excavated here date as far back as the 4-13th century, thus gaining Kernave the name of Lithuanian Pompeii. The State Kernave Archeology and History Museum-Reserve contains 48 archeological and historical monuments.

are located in the southern, most forested part of Lithuania, in the area of Dzukija National Park. Apart from its nature, the ethnographic homesteads are preserved here. The well known spa Druskininkai among pine forest boasts exclusively mild microclimate. Always fresh air, pollution being down to zero, the mineral waters, the medical mud baths, the sanatoriums, the peace extending from the lake Druskonio- these are all advantages of the resort. Druskininkai also gained fame through the music and poetry festivities at Ciurlionis home. Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1911), the outstanding Lithuanian composer and painter, creator of philosophical, innovative musical painting, lived here.

Here time seems to have frozen sometime between the late 18th and early 20th century, as most of the items come from this period. The old village with its wooden church and roadside shrines, cottages, barns, orchards, wells and rue gardens has not vanished without a trace – it has come to life again in Rumsiskes. Folk concerts, celebrations of holidays and craft days, just like the museum, reflect the specific character of Lithuania’s four ethnographic regions.

The ice-free seaport. Owing to its strategic importance it was seized by the Livonian Order in 1252 and became a place of endless battles. The Order built a castle there and named the city Memelburg. The Klaipeda region and the lands extending to the southwest of it (currently the Kaliningrad region of Russia) was referred to as Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania. It was there, that the first Lithuanian books “Catechismus”(1547) and “Seasons of the year” (“Metai”,1760) were printed. In the 19th century for a short time Klaipeda (Memelburg) had become the capital of Prussia.

The gem of Lithuanian seaside, Palanga maintains old resort traditions and unprecedented charm. It meets its visitors with white, still free of charge sandy beaches, lush greenery, romantic monuments and legends, music festivals under open summer skies. One of the most favourite places for a walk here is Botanical Park, which has over 200 sorts of plants. The park was designed in the 19th century by a famous architect E. André, the first European professor of landscape architecture. In the middle of the park there is a bright palace of count F. Tiskevicius. Presently it houses the largest European Amber Museum. The exposition displays the incredibly rich collection of amber, referred as the Baltic gold.

Siauliai is the fourth-largest city in the country, an industrial centre. To observe its 750th anniversary, the city created an ornamental Sundial Square. The tall column erected there with the bronze archer on the top, turned a new symbol of the town. Itrecalls to the defeat of the Crusaders, Livonian Order, in the battle of Siauliai (Saulen) in 1236. Of interest for tourists is the main promenade of the city, pedestrian street and the only surviving architectural monument the renaissance St. Peter and Paul’s church.

UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a unique natural phenomenon created by the Baltic sea. This is a 98 km long and 3,8-0,4 km wide strip of sand, washed up by the sea waves, which separates the Curonian Lagoon from the sea. The former fishing villages, now the resorts of Juodkrante, Preila and Nida are united under the same name Neringa and Curonian Spit National Park status. During the last century sand buried more than one village. CURONIAN SPIT