Hotels near Kaltinėnai Spirituality Park

The Kaltinėnai Spirituality Park is the most affecting stop in Šilalė District. Twenty-one sculptures by Lithuanian carvers stand along its paths as an Exiles' Calvary, each commemorating people deported to Siberia from this parish and the villages around it. At the centre rises a white Resurrection Cross about 20 metres high, generally described as the tallest cross in Lithuania, with a small chapel of the Virgin Mary beside it and meditation paths threading the grounds.

The park was built between 1989 and 2006 by Petras Linkevičius, who arrived as parish priest in 1988 and in the same years founded a youth centre, an old people's home and a rehabilitation centre in the village. Entry is free and the grounds are maintained all year, including in winter, when snow cover makes the sculpture group considerably easier to read. Because Kaltinėnai sits beside the A1 motorway, it is the easiest of the district's sights to fold into a longer drive between Vilnius and Klaipėda.

Pro Tip: Walk the loop anticlockwise so you finish at the cross instead of starting there. The Church of St John the Baptist and the octagonal wooden cemetery chapel of 1798 are both five minutes away on foot and worth the detour.