Mosėdis

Vaclovas Intas was the village doctor at Mosėdis, and from the late 1950s he began collecting stones: glacial erratics dragged from fields where farmers were glad to be rid of them, arranged first around his house and then across the village, in the riverbed, along the streets and in a park, until Mosėdis held thousands of them and a museum was founded to explain their geology and their origins in Scandinavia. The result is a village where boulders are the dominant feature, with a stone-built museum, a rare stone exposition and terraced arrangements along the Bartuva. It is eccentric and entirely serious, and it makes the point about the ice sheet more effectively than any display case would.

What to look for

• Boulders through the village - erratics arranged in streets and river.
• The stone museum - geology and origins of the collection explained.
• The rare stone garden - the selected specimens in the park.
• The Bartuva terraces - stone arrangements along the river.

When to go

May to September for walking the village and the park; the museum keeps limited hours and closes on Mondays. The stones are visible year round but winter access to the park is poor.

Things to know

Museum interpretation is largely in Lithuanian. The village is small with few facilities. The collection is unusual rather than beautiful, and visitors expecting a conventional attraction may be puzzled. It takes two hours.

Nearby

Orvydas garden lies south; Skuodas is north.

Key facts