Puntukas Stone

Puntukas is an erratic, a granite boulder carried here by the ice sheet from Scandinavia and left in the pine woods south of Anykščiai when the glacier melted: around seven metres long and nearly as wide, standing over five metres and estimated at some two hundred and sixty tonnes, the second largest boulder in the country. Folklore has the devil dropping it while trying to destroy a church. In 1943 the sculptor Bronius Pundzius carved the faces of the aviators Darius and Girėnas into one face, along with lines from their testament; they had flown the Atlantic from New York in 1933 and crashed in Prussia short of Kaunas. A path leads to the stone from the road, and a nature trail continues through the forest.

Highlights

• The granite erratic - a boulder of some two hundred and sixty tonnes.
• The carved portraits - Darius and Girėnas cut into the rock face.
• The pine forest - the woodland the stone sits in.
• The nature trail - the marked route continuing through the woods.

When to go

April to October for the walk; the forest is pleasant year round and quiet in winter. The stone is accessible at all times and takes half an hour.

Practical notes

It is a large rock in a wood; the visit is short and the interest is partly in the carving and the story. Interpretation is in Lithuanian. Facilities are a car park. It is best combined with the Anykščiai treetop walk and church.

Nearby

Anykščiai lies north; the Šventoji river runs through the town.

Key facts