If you feel that you have visited Verkių Park many times, but you cannot tell how special this place is – try this route and complement the eye-pleasing sights with intriguing stories. Verkiai is an old settlement surrounded by legends, the history of which is closely related to early pagan Vilnius.
It is claimed that in the XIII-XIV centuries. at the junction, during the time of the mythological prince Šventaragis, Verkiai was one of the largest centers of Lithuania, where the brick temple of the priest Lizdeikas probably stood, other priests and fairies lived nearby, and archaeologists recently discovered graves with numerous burials (weapons, headpieces with swastikas, other ornaments) . The legend of the origin of the name of Verki is no less mysterious. According to the filing, the chief Lithuanian priest Krivės Krivāitis was mourning his dead wife, so in search of peace he went for a walk along the coast of Neris. Once, while walking, he heard the echo of a beautiful song, soon he saw that it was being sung by a Lithuanian woman sitting by the stream. Krivius Krivaitis fell in love with her and started visiting her, and a child was born from that love. The laws of the time allowed a crook to marry only once, so the two planned to hide the child where they knew the grand duke would soon come to hunt. The baby was beautifully swaddled, decorated with a wreath of flowers and placed in an eagle’s nest. On the day of the hunt, the grand duke with his entourage was passing by, heard the child’s cry, and ordered the find to be taken out of the oak tree. The child stopped crying when he saw the shiny armor of the prince. The ruler thought that the child was extraordinary and given by the gods, and the invited crook explained that it was God who was sending him a shift. The delighted prince asked to raise the child, so the priest did it. The child found in the nest was named Lizdeika, and the area where his cry was heard was named Verkiai.
What you will learn/see on the route:
- where did the name Trinapolis come from?
- where does one of the longest streets of Vilnius – Verkių – begin and end?
- why does a small stream have the enigmatic name of Cedron?
- what is the idea behind establishing the Way of the Cross in Verkiai?
