The legend of Šventaragis

After a very long search, the Duke Šventaragis of Lithuania found an incredibly beautiful place in the woods where Vilnia flows into Neris and, in the face of impending death, he requested his son Skirmantas to burn his body in this beautiful spot in accordance with the ancestral customs. He wanted the bodies of succeeding dukes and noblemen to be burned and buried there too.

Carrying out the will of his father, Skirmantas burned his father’s remains in the valley – as well as the horse his father used to ride, the clothes he used to wear, his falcon and greyhound. From that time on, the place was called the Šventaragis’s Valley and was used to burn and bury the bodies of the dukes of Lithuania.