Natural and historical path

Girios Aidas Forest Museum is located in a house with the original architecture, surrounded by the woods. In the museum, you can see stuffed Lithuanian animals and birds, as well as art works created by folk artists. Wooden sculptures, roof poles, benches and other ornamental wood carvings are exhibited around the museum, created by A. Česnulis, S. Vaida, A. Lastauskas, A. Raugala, J. Videika and other folk artists known throughout Lithuania.

Černiauskai Mound (also called Leipalingis Mound) is the only mound in Druskininkai Municipality. On the eastern side of the mound, there is a settlement at the foot of the hill where rough ceramics, animal bones, slag and clay plaster can be found. Once, a clay cylindrical spindle was also found. The mound is thought to have been formed in the 1st or 2nd millennium.

The length of the cobblestone road is about 400 m. According to legend, Duke Žygimantas Augustas escorted the body of his dead wife Barbora Radvilaitė along this road on foot, from Warsaw to Vilnius.

In this museum founded in Kapčiamiestis High School, you can learn about the distinguished people of Kapčiamiestis, the traditions and daily lives of the local people, as well as about Emilija Pliaterytė, the leader of the 1831 uprising. She is believed to have been a Lithuanian Joan of Arc, who died near Kapčiamiestis as she was retreating with her rebel troops to Poland.

The Veisiejai Regional Park Visitor Centre has an exhibition titled Life Between the Waters about the 37 bodies of water located in Veisiejai Regional Park – ranging from small streams to lakes. The visitor centre is located in a beautiful historical area, to the right of the former Veisiejai Manor. The park is proud to be a habitat for the European tree frog, which is the symbol of Veisiejai Regional Park.

The first museum in Lazdijai was founded in 1924 at the old Žiburys Gymnasium by Motiejus Gustaitis, the director of the gymnasium, a priest and an educator. Nowadays, the Lazdijai Regional Museum holds various exhibits of fine art, folk art and ethnography, and it has an exhibition featuring the works of Salomėja Nėris. In addition, various educational activities take place here. Salomėja Nėris settled in Lazdijai as an ‘exile of love’, and from 1928–1931, she taught German in the gymnasium. Here, she wrote a collection of poems called Feet in the Sand (Pėdos smėly), and the poet’s footprints in the sand can be found in the museum even today.

During the Cold War, there was a protected stretch called the ‘Iron Curtain’ between Lithuania and Poland. The Soviet border guards and their dogs would walk along this road, where the fence served as a high-voltage power line protecting the Soviet Empire from the Western World. Nowadays, you can see the remaining parts of this ‘Iron Curtain’ here.