Page 283 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

WESTERN LITHU ANIA  281

Samogitian figures and a park
featuring the Thunder Oak
tree, now a natural monument.
The manor also houses the
Žemaičiai Art Museum, which
displays works by Western
Lithuanian artists.
Environs
About 2,236 of Plungė’s jews
died in the Holocaust. Much of
the killing took place in Kaušėnai,
a village 4 km (2 miles) west of
town. Here, a series of moving
wooden sculptures have been
Boats on the eastern shore of Lake Plateliai, bordering Plateliai village carved by Jacob Bunka (b.1922),
chairman of Plungė’s 13-member
w Plateliai creatures, carvings and rock Jewish community.
paintings of pagan and religi ous Gandinga Hill, 5 km (3 miles)
Road Map B4. * 1,000. @ from
Plungė. n Didžioji 8, (448) 49 231. imagery, painted missile shells southwest of Plungė, offers a
_ Shrove Tuesday Carnival (Feb/Mar). and a disused Soviet tank. panoramic view of the Žemaitija
Hidden gardens appear out of forests. A fort ress, Gandinga,
The administrative centre of nowhere and there is no set once stood here, built as a
Žemaitija National Park (see path, adding to the maze-like defence against the Teutonic
pp282–3), Plateliai is a sleepy feel. The dark cav erns conceal Knights. Pagan burial grounds
lakeside village. It has the further oddities, and a pond- dating from the 9th century
wooden Church of Sts Peter side hut hidden among trees is have been discovered nearby.
and Paul (1744) and a park that reputedly the home of pixies Another remarkable outdoor
was the grounds of a manor. and gnomes. museum is the Museum of
The Witch’s Ash, Lithuania’s big- Unique Rocks in Mosėdis, 40 km
gest ash tree, which stands in (25 miles) northwest of Plungė.
the park, has many legends r Plungė Exhibits range from a display of
attached to it. One involves Road Map C5. * 39,000. fossils and rock fragments inside
a baker who threw a loaf of £ from Šiauliai, Klaipėda. @ from a restored watermill to a park
bread at a witch sit ting on Šiauliai, Klaipėda. n Dariaus ir Gireno full of mossy boulders and
its branches. The loaf is still 27, (448) 55 108. ∑ visitplunge.lt crude stone sculptures. The
visible – the knobbly bit museum was founded in 1979
where the branches divide. The town of Plungė is the by Dr Vaclovas Intas.
Across the road on Didžioji main gateway to Žemaitija
Street, elaborate Shrovetide National Park (see pp282–3). E Žemaičiai Art Museum
masks are displayed in the One of Lithuania’s most opulent Parko 1. Tel (448) 52 492.
manor barn. These are worn manors, the well-preserved Open 10am–5pm Tue–Sat. & 8
during the Shrove Tuesday Plungė Manor was built by E Museum of Unique Rocks
Carnival. The most popu lar Mykolas Oginskis, a descendant Salantų 2. Tel (440) 76 291. Open
sight is Castle Island, which of a family of Lithuanian nobles. 8am–6pm (10am–6pm Sat & Sun).
takes its name from a fortress It includes 16 sculptures of Closed Nov–Apr: Sat & Sun. & 8
that stood on the near est
island of Pilies.
e Orvidas Garden
Orvidų sodyba-muziejus
Road Map B4. Tel (613) 28 624.
Open June: 10am–7pm Tue–Sun,
July–May: 10am–7pm Wed–Sun. &
The creative work of local mystic
and genius Vilius Orvidas
(1952–92), this garden is one of
Eastern Europe’s most bizarre
sights. Eclectic and enormous, it
is a complex network of crosses
and tombstones, boulders and
treetrunks, sculptures of odd Plungė Manor, seen across a lake, with a sculpture in the foreground

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