The Dieveniskes Region
Day Thirteen - The Baltics - 2024
The newest “best-kept secret” in Europe.
Editor’s Comment: The terms “Baltics” and “Baltic” are complicated: geopolitically, the “Baltic states” refer to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the “Baltic region” refers to those states which border the Baltic Sea, and the “Baltic peoples” are those who speak Baltic languages, primarily Latvian and Lithuanian. I apply the term “Baltics” in this travelogue to apply to those states of Baltic region I traveled through, in this case Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Additionally, certain characters have been transliterated to be compatible with the fonts used on this website.
1. Medininkai Memorial #1
On 31 July 1991, the Soviet Special Military Police (OMON) shot and killed seven officers at a Lithuanian border post then-recently established following the nation’s declaration of the restoration of independence, the opinion of the Soviet Union being the crossing point was an illegal infringement on their sovereignty.
My last day in Lithuania and in the Baltic states was a wild one! But, first, some context.
In 2016, I read an article by Michael Casper in New Yorker Magazine called, “A Corner of Europe Frozen in Time” which discussed a small portion of Lithuania southeast of Vilnius which -despite now being in NATO and the Eurozone- more closely resembled the collectivist Soviet Union era. Having an extra day to travel, and remembering this story while looking at a map of the region, I decided to plan a day visiting this decidedly less-touristed part of Europe.
I tacked on a few additional stops en route, to include the memorial to the so-called Medininkai Massacre which is currently along the Lithuania-Belarus border. At the time, this was incredibly difficult to get to as the border crossing here was one of only one of two open between the European Union and Belarus owing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The line of trucks waiting to be searched and allowed out of civilization reached 10 kilometers / 6 miles by my count, and I was forced to drive on the opposite side of the highway to edge past them. Comfortable with the amount of lawbreaking I had done, about 1.5 kilometers / 1 mile away from the monument I pulled down a dirt road and walked between the tractor trailers on the highway until I reached the monument.
2. Medininkai Memorial #2
In 2001, a glass shell was placed over top of the border post building where the massacre took place; while the exterior was renovated, everything inside the building left in situ, including the assailants’ bloody footprints on the floor.
Following Lithuania’s declaration of the restoration of independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990, the nation pridefully installed border posts, much to the chagrin of particularly the Soviet Union state security apparatus. Between Lithuania’s declaration and the Soviet Union’s recognition of an independent state on 6 September 1991, at least eighteen attacks were carried out by primarily Soviet military police who burned down checkpoint buildings, destroyed customs vehicles, and attacked customs officials.
The 31 July 1991 attack on the Medininkai post was the most ruthless, resulting in the murder of seven Lithuanian officials; an eighth official, Tomas Sernas, was severely injured and underwent a lengthy recovery. These seven -along with another official killed at a crossing in Salcininkai- were joined by over 60 border officers injured during this time. As a footnote, Sennas recovered and became a parson.
Following extreme condemnation, the Medininkai Massacre was the last such attack carried out by Soviet forces. It is not known how culpable President Mikhail Gorbachev was in the attacks, in fact it is theorized the military carried them out in response to Gorbachev’s increasingly friendly policies towards Lithuania.
3. Medininkai Castle #1
Medininkai Castle was constructed in the 14th century but was abandoned following a fire in the 16th century; restoration work was done piecemeal between 1959 and 2012, when it was prepared as a museum.
I stopped at the nearby Medininkai Castle, which features a really neatly restored castle tower with some great exhibits and excellent views over the surrounding countryside. I actually preferred my visit here to the one to Trakai as the museum presentation at Medininkai was significantly more cohesive. The staff did not speak English, but the labels in the museum are well-written.
Four more photographs of (and from) Medininkai Castle follow.
4. Medininkai Castle #2
5. Medininkai Castle #3
6. Medininkai Castle #4
7. Medininkai Castle #5
8. Medininkai Holy Trinity Catholic Church
The current incarnation of the Medininkai Church was constructed in 1931.
Next to Medininkai Castle is the Holy Trinity Catholic Church which, unfortunately, was not opened when I stopped by.
9. Paulava Republic #1
The Paulava Republic existed from 1769 to 1795 on about 3000 hectares / 7400 acres, an area roughly the size of Macau; it may well have been the world’s first micronation.
Making my way further south, I passed by the ruins of the former Paulava Republic, a small state established by Pawel Ksawery Brzostowski, a Polish Catholic priest. There isn’t much to see here today besides some ruins, but the geographer in me is always curious about oddities such as this. This wasn’t an 18th century stunt either; the state had recognition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and had a constitution. Somewhat undemocratically, the state ended when Brzostowski -essentially, the area’s monach- traded the state for lands in modern-day Germany.
Three more photographs of the ruins of the Paulava Republic follow.
10. Paulava Republic #2
11. Paulava Republic #3
12. Paulava Republic #4
13. Dieveniskes Regional Park Visitor Center
Opened in 2015, the Dieveniskes Regional Park Visitor Center is the tourist information hub for the area of Lithuania commonly called “Stalin’s Pipe”; this refers to the region’s shape and an apocryphal story about Stalin’s pipe resting on the area’s part of the map when the Soviet Republics’ borders were being drawn.
Around mid-day, I passed through the border guard checkpoint and entered the so-called “Lithuanian Appendix”, a salient region which is surrounded on three sides by Belarus and only connected to Lithuania by a three kilometer / two mile wide strip. This area is commonly referred to as “Stalin’s Pipe” and is made up of two parishes -Dieveniskes and Poskonys- and is home to about 2,000 residents. About 110 of the 292 square kilometers of these combined regions is made up of the Dieveniskes Regional Park, established in 1992. Since this area doesn’t really have a singular formal name, in an attempt to clear up any misunderstanding about the area I’ll be talking about I’m just going to call the region “The Dieveniskes Region.”
Anyway, I’ve probably confused you so thoroughly you overlooked or forgot my mention of passing through a border guard checkpoint. Indeed, at the neck of the salient your vehicle must be inspected and your documentation checked; this is no doubt the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fact that the area is surrounded almost entirely by the Russian puppet state of Belarus. This should not dissuade you from visiting, mind you, and -if anything- the guards will be nonplussed but pleased that you are visiting.
So how did this situation happen, anyway? Well, following the 1939 invasion and partition of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, this area fell into the Soviet’s sphere of influence and was placed into the Belarus Soviet Socialist Republic. Realizing the area was substantially composed of Lithuanians and Poles, the Belarusians ceded control of the region to the Lithuanian SSR.
Despite being only an hour from Vilnius, the salient was geographically removed from the rest of the country and when the country zoomed from restored independence to NATO and Eurozone membership in less than a quarter of a century, the Dieveniskes Region was left behind way back in the 20th century … perhaps even earlier by some stantards.
In part to preserve this unique landscape, the Regional Park was established, followed later by its museum which discusses and preserves the history of this area and its inhabitants’ ways of life.
Information about sightseeing in the Dieveniskes Region is limited on the internet (in English, anyway), so I calculated the museum would be a great place to start. Visiting a seldom visited region of a country during the shoulder season is odd enough; the staff encountering a random English-speaking American tourist must have been quite puzzling. Indeed, neither of the staff on duty spoke English, but one had a tablet with an incredibly informative English audio guide for my use.
I say without exaggeration that I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the exhibition here, and I think this may be the best regional museum I have ever been to. The topics covered (geology, history, wildlife, culture) were diverse but summarized succinctly and intelligently, and the displays really enhanced my understanding of the audio guide. This is truly an A+ museum and I seriously recommend anyone staying in Vilnius for a few days grab a rental car and check it out.
After spending about an hour in the museum, I snapped a photograph of the regional map board outside the museum (I didn’t see any brochures inside the building). I noticed a relatively short hiking trail to a marked oak tree, and -since it was a nice day- I figured I’d check that out.
14. Poskonys Reservoir
Across from the visitor’s center is the Poskonys Reservoir, a pleasant and relaxing looking dammed lake.
15. Poskonys Burial Ground
The Poskonys Burial Ground is a collection of 24 burial mounds from the fifth to sixth century.
Making my way along the east edge of the reservoir, I passed a small primitive cemetery comprised of rock mounds of up to 1.8 meters / 6 feet in height.
16. A View of Didziuliai
The walk through the countryside was, honestly, just what I needed to wind down a very busy and very long road trip. And beside a woman tending her garden, I didn’t see a single other soul on my two-hour journey.
17. Grybiskes Oak #1
The Grybiskes Oak is over 1,000 years old, has a circumference of 5 meters / 16 feet, and stands 26 meters / 85 feet tall.
Finally, I reached the tree. That’s a big oak! I applaud the caretakers of the park for surrounding the tree so visitors don’t trample the root system, something I would like to see happen with other prominent trees.
One more photograph of the Grybiskes Oak follows.
18. Grybiskes Oak #2
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Now back to the travelogue!
19. Rimasiai #1
There are thirteen ethnographic villages in the Dieveniskes Region, a major architectural staple of which is the house adjoining a barn forming one large structure.
I genuinely hate exploring and photographing small villages where people live as it gives me animals in a zoo vibes, so I had to be extra discrete making my way through the little town of Rimasiai which is just off the main road through the Dieveniskes Region.
Two more photographs of the village follow.
20. Rimasiai #2
21. Rimasiai #3
22. Becionys Hillfort #1
The Becionys Hillfort was constructed in the 1st century as a defensive position for the area’s inhabitants; it stands 17 meters / 55 feet tall.
I made a quick stop at the Becionys Hillfort which gives really nice westerly views across the region and into neighboring Belarus.
Two more photographs from the hillfort and its surroundings follow.
23. Becionys Hillfort #2
24. Becionys Hillfort #3
25. The Lithuania-Belarus Border
The end result of a series of diplomatic escalations and provocations, Lithuania began construction of a border fence following Belarus’ attempt to destabilize the European Union through directed immigration in 2021.
Barring significant changes to its current situation, Belarus is one of those nations destined to forever fail politically. Unlike Turkiye, who has delicately balanced its relationships with larger belligerent neighbors (NATO, Russia, Iran, etc.), Belarus cannot ever seem to appease either side without drawing the wrath of the other. This has resulted in both the serious degradation of relations with the West, as well as resignation to their status as a puppet state of Russia. Belarus is no longer in control of its destiny.
Nothing represents this sad state more than the border fence between Lithuania and Belarus. This is an incredibly nuanced topic, focused primarily on the decades-long engineering of Belarus’ de facto dictator Alexander Lukashenko to sell out his country’s future and autonomy to stay in power, but let’s focus on the early 2020s. In mid-2020, Lukashenko was seeking “reelection” to an unprecedented sixth term as the President of Belarus. Concurrently, Lukashenko was relaxing a previously tense relationship with the European Union while becoming increasingly critical of Russian influence in the country. Lukashenko had deployed this tactic previously, likely in an effort to soften criticism of his reelection in the West (he signed a cooperation agreement with Lithuania around the time of his 2006 reelection, for example.) However, Russia deployed private military contractors to Minsk around the same time to send a message - fall in line, or your regime is finished. Lukashenko ultimately won reelection, an outcome widely criticized both in the West and domestically. Protests raged in Minsk and resulted in the detention of thousands of opposition members; this fueled further condemnation of the Lukashenko regime and its Russian puppet master. In a simultaneous move that couldn’t possibly be more than a coincidence, Russia relaxed payments on Belarus’ state debt to the Kremlin. The detentions of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega on the redirected Ryanair Flight 4978, as well as the defection of athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to Poland pushed the situation to the point of no return.
Beginning in mid-2021, Lithuanian authorities noticed a significant surge in the number of unauthorized border crossings into the Schengen Zone, several times that of previous years. At the same time, Belarus had relaxed its visa requirements for travelers from the Middle East, particularly Iraq, for whom they were also giving subsidized travel packages; again, this couldn’t possibly be more than a coincidence, could it? There was also evidence that Belarusian border guars were actively facilitating travel of migrants to the Lithuania border. Between 2022 and 2023, Lithuania significantly upgraded its border fencing to combat the issue.
This affair, naturally, had a deleterious effect on Belarus’ relationship with Lithuania. Remember that 2006 cooperation compact I mentioned? Well, it’s dead. And what did Belarus get for its trouble? The country is now essentially a Russian military forward operating base, complete with nuclear weapons. Yeah, well played, Lukashenko….
26. Norviliskes Church of the Virgin Mary
The Norviliskes Church of the Virgin Mary was built in 1929, replacing a wooden church built in 1745 that was dismantled by the Russian Empire.
A look at a map of the Dieveniskes Regional Park reveals a strange exclave tucked away in the far east of the Dieveniskes Region. Curiosity getting the better of me, I just had to go and check this out.
This exclave is centered around the village of Norviliskes, which features a castle, a church, a cemetery, and a few nearby houses. It is very remote -even by Dieveniskes Region standards- and the appearance of my rental car attracted the attention of the border guard who tracked me the last few kilometers until I parked my vehicle. Given the knife-at-neck tensions between NATO and CSTO at the moment, I can’t blame them.
I headed up the small hill to check out the church and the adjoining cemetery, which -as you can see in the previous photograph- is right along the border.
27. The Last W.C. in Europe
Given its isolation and the fact that it is surrounded on three sides by Belarus, I certainly would put the Dieveniskes Region in the running for the title of “the end of Europe.” As Norviliskes is, itself, further surrounded on three sides by Belarus, I would also consider it to be the “last village in Europe.” This outhouse is the last structure you come upon before reaching the border fence, so does that make it “the last building in Europe?”
28. Razor Wire Crosses
It is so jarring to see the peacefulness of this region so abruptly interrupted by razor wire and security cameras.
29. Norviliskes Castle #1
Norviliskes Castle was constructed in the 16th century, and was given to the Catholic Church in 1617; after being taken over by the Russian Empire in 1832, it became a military garrison until the end of World War I when it was abandoned, ultimately restored in 2005 to serve as an events center.
The highlight of Norviliskes is its meticulously restored castle which offers great views across the Dieveniskes Region.
30. Norviliskes Castle #2
And, with that, my Baltics adventure had effectively come to an end. I returned the rental car and flew back to the United States the following morning.
Concerning the Dieveniskes Region: this is an absolutely fascinating and lovely part of Europe that is only one hour away Lithuania’s capital. If you are in Vilnius and have a day to spare, the route I took makes for an excellent day out and I highly encourage you to visit. Renting a car for a day at Vilnius Airport is cheap (cost me less than €40, including fuel) and the drive is easy, the highway border crossing notwithstanding. As mentioned, you will have to show documentation when you enter the region, and services -such as restaurants, ATMs, and petrol stations- are nonexistent so plan ahead. It is just a matter of time before a travel vlogger discovers this area, so check it out while it is still pristine.
As for my impressions of the Baltics as a whole: I managed to be pleasantly surprised despite having very high expectations for this jam-packed itinerary.
My personal favorites were Suomenlinna in Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga (particularly the former’s walled city and the latter’s medical museum and canal cruise), Irbene / the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre, the Plokstine Missile Base, the fields and villages of northeast Poland, and -indeed- the Dieveniskes Region.
This is certainly one of those parts of the world I definitely plan on returning to in the future!
