LITHUANIA

Vilnius boasts the most wonderful architectural styles of Southern and Western Europe, Gothic and Renaissance, as well as the original “Lithuanian” Baroque, also called the last vivid flash of Baroque in Europe. During these periods, the dynamic silhouettes of the majority of very elegant churches and belfry towers emerged above the city panorama. The end of the 18th century enriched the capital with beautiful buildings in the Classicist style. The capital of Lithuania is the biggest northernmost and easternmost city of Europe with especially evident influence of Western cultures in its architectural harmony. In 1994 the Old Town of Vilnius was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

Photo: V. Geguzis

The city boasts a compact, well-preserved and nurtured Old Town, which is a concentration of valuable cultural and architectural monuments including Kaunas Castle, Gothic Perkūnas House (The House of Thunder), Vytautas the Great and St. Gertrude Churches, Kaunas Town Hall, also called The White Swan, and a number of others. In addition, the city has interesting objects of engineering heritage, i.e. funiculars launched 70 years ago; one of these lifts people to the Aleksotas hill which, like the Insurrection Church, opens beautiful panoramas of Kaunas.

Klaipėda cherishes marine traditions–: it hosts the Sea Festival on the last weekend of July every year since 1934. This event includes a number of performances of artistic companies and craftsmen’s fairs. The festival attracts many participants and guests not only from Lithuania but also from abroad. The Kopgalis Fort complex, built in the 19th century, houses the Maritime Museum with an attractive exposition of marine nature and the history of navigation.

Photo: A. Galiunas

Sometimes, even a whim can turn something into a symbol of the country standing for long centuries. Into the one which majesty and beauty impresses anyone who comes to this country. Trakai castle enveloped with legends, poems and lake waters, enchants with its extraordinary medieval history.

The lake town is the nickname of Trakai, the historical capital of Lithuania. It boasts not only the pride of the town but of the entire Lithuania – the only castle in Eastern Europe, built on the island.

Probably the Europe’s largest rolling sand dunes, the Baltic Sea roaring on the west, the Curonian Lagoon welcoming the sun every morning, and other natural wonders in the Curonian Spit National Park are all very close to one another, making a remarkable and idyllic landscape amazing everyone who visits them.

The sand stripe of 98 kilometres, washed by the Baltic Sea on the west and the Curonian Lagoon waters from the east, is a wonderful joint working of nature and human efforts. The current landscape of the Curonian Spit was formed by residents struggling with the inexorable wind and attempting to tame the sand carried by it. Because of this unique union of man and nature in shaping the landscape, the Curonian Spit was declared a national park and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Samogitia has always been a separate republic. A part of Lithuania, but at the same time not a part of Lithuania, it has preserved its identity and culture over the centuries, and the Samogitians have preserved their stubbornness and language. Samogitians were the last Europeans to convert to Christianity, and pagan altars can still be found on the hill forts there to this day. Scouring one of Lithuania’s most mysterious lands for traces of its dramatic history is truly amazing. You might be surprised where they will take you.

Text courtesy of Lithuanian State Department of Tourism, photo D. Jakštaitė