Description
In Lūžai Forest, in the Dusetos area of Zarasai district, the hilly Šavaša River valley contains a unique archaeological complex: a hillfort more than two thousand years old, a Selonian burial mound site dating from the 8th–12th centuries, and a cylindrical stone with a bowl-shaped hollow. It is perhaps the only place of its kind in the region where an ancient sacred site has remained untouched by economic activity. Even the ritual stone still stands where it did centuries ago. On 25 August 2024, a project supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture opened Lithuania's first 11 km Selonian Sacred Trail in Gražutė Regional Park, managed by the Aukštaitija Protected Areas Directorate. This walking route leads through the scenic surroundings of Antalieptė and Baltic sacred sites where ancestors celebrated, made offerings, treated illnesses and prayed for health. Starting in Antalieptė, the route follows forest paths to the Šventoji spring, locally called Šveicarka, then the Šavaša stone with a footprint, the Lūžai hillfort and burial mounds, and the Lūžai bowl stone. Finally it reaches the sacred hills near Jakštai village, symbolically named ‘Dievaičiukas’ and ‘Dievaitytė’.
