Trakai Historical National Park is the smallest national park in Lithuania and the only historical one. The landscape here represents the history of coexistence between man and nature, the ability to wisely use the natural environment for self-defense and self-expression, without diminishing the values and beauty of nature, without destroying it.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania left traces of statehood in the landscape. Important events in European history took place here, the most valuable spiritual and material heritage and cultural traditions of the Lithuanian nation and national minorities (Karaims, Tatars, Poles, Russians) have survived. Traces of the lives and activities of prominent historical figures are evident here.
How national parks were formed and what a long path was taken from the first ideas to the actual creation of state parks, recalls Rūta Baškytė, Senior Advisor of the State Service for Protected Areas. For many years, she headed the system of protected areas and stood at the very origins of the emergence of protected areas in Lithuania.
The core of the historical national park is surrounded by lakes Trakai old town with the Island and Peninsula castles, a church founded by Vytautas the Great and a wooden town. In the territory between Lakes Skaistis and Galvė, a pearl of a purposefully created cultural landscape has emerged – Užutrakis Manor. Despite the intensive settlement and use of the territory, a great variety of natural habitats has been preserved in the landscape of the historical national park.
Trakai was the area that everyone who could move traveled to in the last century. It was a matter of honor to see the venerable Trakai Castle, sung by Maironis. Many people can consider themselves witnesses of the revival of the Trakai Island Castle, having seen the ruins of the castle, observed its reconstruction work and the rebuilt castle. Trakai – one of the capitals of Lithuania – has long deserved exceptional protection. First, the Trakai area was granted the status of a landscape reserve (in 1960), but it was obviously too narrow for such a complex territory. So, when the opportunity arose, in 1991 it became a historical national park. If there are still those who doubt that every national park will sooner or later become the pride of the country, then they would be in the minority because of the Trakai Historical National Park, because this territory is an extremely important part of Lithuanian statehood.
I would really like people to go to Trakai Historical National Park instead of just Trakai these days. Apparently, we all have to make a serious effort to do that.
While working at the Lithuanian Research Institute of Construction and Architecture, I was involved in the preparation of the first planning scheme of the Trakai Historical National Park. I collected material, assessed the situation, went on expeditions, participated in discussions with specialists in various fields, and in the formulation of solutions. It so happened that before this document was approved, I changed jobs. I left the institute and started working at the Department of Environmental Protection under the Supreme Council (then Seimas), so my relationship with this important territorial planning document also changed. Now it was necessary to actively get involved in its approval, in the formulation of the Government resolution. Since then, I have had to actively participate in the analysis of problems in this national park.
Exceptional places have always attracted people. And not only because of their beauty, but also because of the convenience of defending themselves, living, resources, etc. And now there is an attraction to settle in Trakai or next to them is equivalent to wanting to live by the sea or in Vilnius. This creates quite a lot of tension, because nature is not boundless, the landscape is not endless. You will overstretch the stick and destroy what you are here for…
Back at the end of the last century, when the boom in unauthorized construction began, when large-sized buildings began to rise (there should still be those who remember Dekanidze and other “palaces”), courts began to be established, and various commissions were formed. Many spears were broken due to intentions to build where it is not appropriate, where it is not allowed, due to unbridled interests, due to elementary egoism. Due to the inability to find suitable solutions, compromises, more than a decade ago, it was not possible to complete and approve the new planning scheme for the Trakai Historical National Park. Therefore, to this day, we still live with the one approved more than 30 years ago (in 1993). Currently, when preparing the new planning scheme, that boundless human desire to get as much as possible at the expense of nature, values, and society is again emerging.
For the management of the Trakai Historical National Park, as in the case of the Curonian Spit National Park, an attempt was made to apply the joint management model, when a joint council represented by the state, local government and other institutions is formed, and the rotation principle is applied. But this model has not taken root. Apparently, it is not time yet, we still have to grow up, start thinking more broadly.
The management of the Trakai Historical National Park has now been entrusted to Ministry of Culture, but from time to time there are proposals to transfer its management to the State Service for Protected Areas.
The exceptional peculiarity of the landscape of the Trakai Historical National Park is a compact unique lake area with exceptional creations of human activity – the Peninsula and Sala castles, the Užutrakis Manor. Even the old town of Trakai is squeezed into the lake area. The cultural landscape here reflects the development of the coexistence of man and nature, change in the course of history, man’s ability to create a state, the center of the state in a unique natural environment, to adapt nature for self-defense and self-expression, adapting, not destroying or changing, not diminishing the values and beauty of nature. How important it is to preserve it!
The landscape reveals traces of important events in European history and different eras. Traces of statehood were left here by one of the largest medieval European states – the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The most important events in European history were recorded here, and the most valuable spiritual and material heritage of Lithuania, Poland, Russia and other Eastern European nations was created. Traces of the life and activities of not only the most famous medieval rulers – Vytautas the Great, Casimir, but also other prominent personalities – the counts Tiškevičius, the dukes Radziwills, the nobles Sapieha, Oginski, Goštautai, the rector of the University of Siena, the bishop of Vilnius Motiejus Trakiškis, the Karaite thinker and philosopher Izaaks Trakietis, the poet and doctor Ezra Harofez are clearly visible here.
The important cultural landscape, harmoniously created by man and nature for centuries, has close spiritual, artistic, religious and other memorable connections with the historical past of the multinational state of Lithuania and Eastern Europe, the life and activities of prominent historical figures. The landscape reflects cultural traditions that are still alive today in the Karaite, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian communities.
On the northern shore of Lake Galvė stands the striking Kęstutis Mountain – one of the most beautiful viewpoints in Lithuania. The mountain offers a full, exceptional 360-degree view panorama, an impressive view that allows you to cover most of the spaces and values of the historical national park with all your senses. The higher you climb, the more the structure of Lake Galvė with its islands and peninsulas becomes apparent, we see fragments of Akmena, Skaistis and other lakes, Trakai Castle, Trakai city. The built-up and natural shores of the lakes and islands are clearly different. And yet, as you climb higher, it seems that the natural landscape prevails, that human creations are submerged in the embrace of waters and forests… Looking from the mountain in all directions and with all your senses, you can feel the most important spaces and values of the historical national park.
The hill was not named after Kęstutis by chance. It could have been a natural landmark marking the boundary of the estates of the last duke of the old Lithuanian faith. From the hill, both Trakai castles surrounded by water are visible (often people do not pay attention to the Pensiasalis castle), the huge Akmena lake, and among the hills covered with forests, one can see one of the largest in the country, the Bražuolė hillfort. Once upon a time, a wooden castle of Duke Jogaila stood on this hillfort, which is remembered by the names of the villages of Kunigaikštynė and Jogėliškės.
The visual authenticity of the city of Trakai – the image of a wooden city with a brick castle on an island and castle ruins on a peninsula – is illustrated by an image recorded in engravings from the 17th–19th centuries. It has remained almost unchanged to this day. Trakai was an important defense center for the approaches to the state capital (Vilnius). A unique defense system was created in a natural, inaccessible territory with the wooden castles of Bražuolė, Daniliškės and the brick castles of Old and New Trakai. Tatars and Karaites were used for defense. A Karaite prayer house – kenesa – still operates in Trakai. If the city’s image has remained almost unchanged, the difficult-to-pass natural environment has almost disappeared.
The Trakai Parish Church was founded by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. It was built at the same time as the Sala Castle. It houses the miraculous icon of the Mother of God.
On the peninsula between Lakes Skaistis and Galvė, a pearl of purposefully created cultural landscape shines – the J. Tiškevičius Užutrakis Manor Homestead with a mixed-style park designed by EF Andrė. In it, natural elements alternate with man-made ones, and there are also strictly geometric forms. The pattern of natural and human creativity is different, although it is created with the same materials and elements. The water reflection park consists of specially dug ponds that connect with each other and with lakes. About 400 species of herbaceous plants grow in the park, some of which have been introduced and are found only in parks in Lithuania or were grown in spice and medicinal plant gardens. Together with them, rare, protected or common forest, meadow and swamp plants grow, forming unique communities. Part of the park’s vegetation is ancient rose varieties, enchanting with flowers of unique shapes and an unforgettable scent.
The historical national park contains 32 lakes and numerous small lakes, differing in size, depth, shape and origin, closely connected by invisible underground water links and forming a complex system – Trakai Lake District. The deepest and most impressive is Lake Galvė with 21 islands, shrouded in legends and closely connected to the history of Trakai not only because of the castle. It is used quite intensively for recreation – recreational swimming, and sports competitions, training, amateur fishing.
Despite the intensive settlement and use of the territory, a great diversity of natural ecosystems has been preserved in the historical national park, including natural habitats of European Community importance, rare plants and animals. The different relief and hydrological conditions have determined a great diversity of biotopes. The majority of protected wildlife values are closely related to lakes or their shores: medicinal leeches, two-banded reed warblers and broad-brimmed ducks are found in small lakes, red-bellied toads and crested newts spawn in them, otters live on the shores, and the greater goldeneye and the armored umbrella are associated with wetland plants. Varnikai Forest is home to one of the five known sites of the common bearfoot in Lithuania.
The Varnikai swamp reminds us of the times when the lakes, and at the same time the castle, were surrounded by a difficult natural environment. I keep hearing good reviews about the Varnikai educational trail. And once upon a time, in the last decade of the last century, it was still just a dream. I remember when in the winter, together with architect Giedris Daniulaitis and the then director of the national park, Zenta Ražanauskienė, we set out to look for a trail in the swamp. Winter, cold, snow, ice, so the most suitable, even safe time to walk through the swamp. Well, not for me. I always manage to slip somewhere. This walk was no exception. I managed to dip my whole foot into the icy water. There was nowhere to dry off, so I had to dry myself in a cafe.
There is one place in this national park that my colleagues and I jokingly called our land. We often visited it. This land of our dreams is in the so-called Valley. There is such a narrow long peninsula without any buildings, at least before there were almost no people there, so you could spend time peacefully observing life in the lake and on its shores. We had also brought Japanese naturalists who had visited Lithuania to “our land” (a venerable professor had arrived with 3 young students), who wanted to see Lithuania and gain experience in protecting nature. I have never met people so interested and involved in research: one girl was meticulously drawing, another was taking notes, a guy was taking photos… They were very surprised that in Vilnius and near Vilnius you can see frogs, green, natural river and lake shores. I remember then the professor asked what I would do if young people did not know nature. I said that I would take them to nature. And he said to me: what if there is nowhere to take you, if nature is 100 km away? In addition, he mentioned that if you take young people to some city park, they sit down and look at their mobile phones. We had not encountered such a phenomenon yet. Now it is like this… I still remember that he mentioned that after World War II, Japan was looking for a country to follow as an example to rebuild its economy. They chose JAVNow they are looking for a model to recreate nature…