A project by students of Birštono gimnazija

Animals - the symbols of our region

An interview with the famous artist M. Gaubas

One of the oldest sculptures in Birštonas is Banginukas (The Whale-fish), which was intended for breaking the Nemunas ice. The piece is under maintenance presently. Photo by Birštono Tourist Information centre

Well, one of the latest ones is by Martynas Gaubas - "Epa_tit".

Whale-fish icebreaker (Skrinsko photography, museum archives)

Wooden Sculptures On October 4-9th, 2021 an international woodcarvers’ symposium took place in Birštonas Žvėrinčiaus forest. Five teams of carvers from Poland and five from Lithuania participated. The participants - Raimondas Uždravis, Vidas Nugaras, Natasza Sobczak, Andrzej Miranczuk, Gintautas Tručinskas, Saulius Jocius, Sylwester Sowa, Bogumila, Ireneusz Canibol and Valerij Kunigel participated in various international competitions in Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and England for many years. During the event, an ensemble of ten wooden sculptures, created on the theme of wildlife and hunting, decorated the forest trail and are admired by hikers and tourists.

Misc texture 1

PROJECT TEAM: Elzė Bisikirskaitė Greta Drazdauskaitė Miglė Juozaitytė Kamilė Kandrotaitė Meida Labanauskaitė Mija Stankevičiūtė Rapolas Aleškevičius Birutė Sinkevičienė - English teacher Daiva Dabrišienė - Geography teacher

Scales turned into crystals Deep down, at the bottom of the river Nemunas, among the tangled grasses, the Good Dragon of Birštonas rested. He had dug tunnels for himself under the entire town. Whenever he felt like moving and exercising his legs, he would go wild, wriggling through those long tunnels. Nobody knew about it until people started noticing glowing scales in buckets of water lifted from wells. It is said that in order to find out whose scales they were one bright boy went down a shallow well to the bottom and came face to face with The Dragon. After that event, the dragon was nicknamed "Good", because even when he had the opportunity, he did not harm the child in any way. Later, based on the increased number of scales in the wells, people found out that the Dragon changed its skin in the spring. His scales would turn whitish silver and fall off. Thus, the tunnels began to glow from those silver scales.

Birštono gimnazija

Why does the town emblem look like a fish? There’s a rumour that the icebreaker made of concrete seemed unaesthetic, that's why it was decided to make it look more appealing. An architect named R. Steikunas suggested making the icebreaker look like a fish. So the shape of the fish was carved from a huge piece of concrete. The mineral spring water ran from the mouth of the fish into the river Nemunas. The sculpture itself was massive as it had to serve its purpose- to break the river ice in spring. Actually, the fish has no relation to any legend whatsoever, only much later people started creating various stories about a huge catfish, the size of the sculpture, being caught in the river there.

After a few years, people noticed that the water in the wells had become very salty. At first it was tolerable and some townspeople were even happy that they didn't have to buy salt! The further we went, the saltier the water became. No one knew the cause or how to stop it. Then, out of nowhere, rumors began to spread that it was from dragon scales! After lying in the tunnels, they start to dissolve and thus salts and minerals are released, making the water saltier.&nbsp; &nbsp; At first, the locals did not like the taste of the water, but later they began to notice that this water heals wounds faster, and after soaking tired legs or hands in it, they become like young men. So, the townspeople not only got used to it but also started spreading the news about the miraculous water in Birštonas. &nbsp; That is why there is no drinking water in our town, only mineral water sources. The legend mentions that if you get the right moment and put your head to the ground, you can still hear The Dragon romping through the tunnels.

We will present the sculptures of our town - Birštonas. These sculptures are closely related to the history of our region. We specifically chose them because the works relate to the topic "Symbols of out town" best of all. “Animals play an extremely important part in the history of Birštonas” states historian S. Matulevičius. “The most common achievement of a duke was to hunt,” the historian continues. "Horses play a really important part while hunting, specific breeds of hunting dogs helped guard the prey. The horses were bred and looked after for the guests‘ hunting particularly. The wild animals that wandered around the forest in Birštonas were the most common targets of the dukes that came to visit the castle. Plenty of wolves, foxes, deer and rabbits were in the vicinity."

ANIMALS -THE SYMBOLS OF OUR REGION

GYVŪNAI - MŪSŲ KRAŠTO SIMBOLIAI

Before The Journey Martynas Gaubas (2012)

As we mentioned, the sculptures of Birštonas are intertwined with the history of the town and its surroundings. We believe that sculptures enrich our city and make it more exciting. They are spectacular to look at in the parks, and even more so to know the reason for their appearance in Birštonas. We hope that our welcoming, rich in its past resort - Birštonas has encouraged everybody to take an interest in the history of our country. "At the foot of Vytautas Hill there are dozens of simmering salty springs called Tears of Vytautas, which were named after Krinta‘s daughter Viktorija. The salty Tears of Vytautas waters are perfect for treating stomachaches. Once one tries the water, he gets used to it a lot- there’s no turning back, even though doctors advise not to drink too much of it." (from museum archives)

Author Jokūbas Dargis Birštono gimnazija

A Monument To Grand Duke Vytautas A monument to Grand Duke Vytautas was erected on the Nemunas embankment. It was built in 1998 at the foot of the Vytautas Mountain mound by sculptor G. Jokūbonis. The monument of a rider is carved out of granite and weighs as much as 30 tons! The symbol of Vytautas the Great and the horse is important in Lithuanian history and folklore. The pink granite for the sculpture was brought from Ukraine, the historical lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.