Sacred Landscape of Lithuania

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Sacred Landscape of Lithuania examines what historical documents, archaeology, place-names, folklore and later religious traditions actually allow us to say about sacred places in the territory of present-day Lithuania, and where later interpretation or reconstruction begins.

Drawing on a controlled sample of thirty places and landscape complexes, the study compares direct medieval references to sacred places, archaeological complexes with disputed ritual interpretations, old or religiously suggestive place-names, later folklore and healing traditions, and modern reconstructions that can be checked against earlier evidence.

The research confirms that specific sacred forests, settlements and cultic spaces are genuinely documented in medieval Lithuania. At the same time, it shows that a sacred place was not necessarily a temple, that archaeological evidence does not always establish a single religious meaning, and that later folklore or place-names cannot automatically be projected into the pre-Christian period.

The publication therefore distinguishes between what is directly documented, what can reasonably be inferred, what remains uncertain, and what belongs to later reconstruction. The complete study is provided as a downloadable PDF.