Druskininkai, The City of Love: From Legends to Resort Romances
Druskininkai is renowned as the capital of wellness and recreation, but the resort’s unique and full of surprises history has been accompanied by a strong love theme since its very beginning. Here, you can follow the paths of legends, steeped in the harmony of wild nature and youth, as well as discover the traces of romantic resort histories. Even Druskininkai itself was born… out of love. We would like to share some stories of love that are very closely linked to Druskininkai!
Druskininkai, from the springs of love
The official date of foundation of Druskininkai resort is considered to be 20 June 1794, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, by his decree, granted the status of a health resort to the area. The mineral water has been tested and its healing qualities have been scientifically confirmed.
But when science tries to explain love, it knows how to get away with it – many poets and philosophers over the centuries have tried to tame it. Can we confirm Druskininkai as a city of love?
Every city, every place has a legend of its origin, a certain element of its primordial being. These are not just simple stories; they provide a fundamental basis for a place or phenomenon, and the narratives they create remain relevant throughout the ages.
In Druskininkai, there is no prophetic dream, fighting heroes or brothers found by the wolf. It’s all hidden in magical springs and… love stories.
If you are trying to unravel the mystery of Druskininkai’s origins, the best place to visit is the Beauty Spring, where the Laumės (Lithuanian fairies) with their hair braided together will take you back to the mythological origins of Druskininkai’s mineral springs.
And then we’ll be swept up in a swirl of spectacular love legends!
According to legend, after a successful hunt, the prince had to shoot a falcon to thank the gods. The Duke shot and the bird, pierced by an arrow, fell into the Nemunas. The prince rushed after the falcon into the water and dove in. The Duchess was the most frightened and upset of all. She was running along the banks of the Nemunas, calling out to her husband, weeping pitifully, shedding salty tears. After a while, the prince emerged from the water with the falcon in his hands, safe and sound. And where the tears of the Duchess fell, salty springs gushed up from the depths of the ground.
And that’s just the beginning, because wherever you turn around in Druskininkai, all you’ll find are love stories and legends.
Like springs, they spread around and became the main flow that shaped the face of the resort as a city of love.
Beauty Spring. The tears of the Duchess from the depths of the ground.
On the trails of legends of love
Right next to the Beauty Spring you will find the monument The Crown – symbolic, as it is a monument to the most vivid love story in Lithuania. There is hardly a person who does not know the love story of Barbora Radvilaitė and Sigismund Augustus, which is steeped in legend and has been an inspiration to many an artist.
Travelling from the Beauty Spring through the Uno adventure park along the banks of the Nemunas River, you will soon see a spectacular panorama of the Love Island.
Here, on both sides of the Nemunas, bonfires were lit on Saint John’s Festival, with girls and boys weaving wreaths and singing around them. When the Nemunas was dark, the young men would throw the wreaths with a candle and their name into the water. According to legend, if the wreaths of a girl and a guy near Love Island were joined by the whirlpools of the Nemunas, they were destined to be together.
Legend also has it that the wreaths of the young men once joined together near the island, near the village of Mizarai. The young men rushed into the logboat and got close to the wreaths, but when they tried to grab them, the boat capsized. The waves carried both bodies away. She held the wreath, he held her. Since then, the island on the Nemunas River near Druskininkai has been called the Island of Love and an altar dedicated to the goddess of love, Milda, has been built there.
Love island.
Burning love inspires an extraordinary journey
When you arrive at the resort, you will surely pass the centre of Druskininkai – Vilnius Avenue – more than once. Stop in front of the current municipal administration building, historically known as the Villa of Doctor Bujakowski.
It was here, on the morning of 19 August 1934, that Halina Korolec-Bujakowska and Stanislav Bujakowski hopped on a motorbike and, after swapping lavish parties and fancy clothes for traveller’s outfits, embarked on their extraordinary 24,000-kilometre post-honeymoon journey to Shanghai.
In addition to all the items and spare parts needed for the trip, Halina also put two dresses in her motorbike trailer. After all, it was the couple’s honeymoon! How can you not dress up in front of locals from Burma or Vietnam?
The journey was a serious challenge for the young couple. During the trip, they longed for Druskininkai and often thought about it. The long journey was troubled by motorbike breakdowns and a lack of money, and by the time they reached Burma, Stanislav was struck by the plague. Stanislav’s illness, which lasted for several days, seriously frightened Halina. Fortunately, the French nuns came to the rescue and put Stanislav back on his feet.
“It is better to die of passion than of boredom,” said Halina Korolec-Bujakowska and Stanislav Bujakowski from Druskininkai, people who have left their mark on the history of travel in both Poland and Lithuania. And also in the burning love story of Druskininkai. They became a couple and started a family on the road – after all the trials and tribulations of the journey, nothing could stand in the way of these two people’s union.
Halina Korolec-Bujakowska and Stanislaw Bujakowski on their motorbike journey to Shanghai.
The resort preserves a relic of St Valentine
The fact that Druskininkai is a city of love is evidenced
by a rare relic of St Valentine, the patron saint of love, which is kept in the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Scapular. The small bone of the saint, preserved in the church of Druskininkai, are reverently placed in an ornate reliquary.
We know St Valentine best as the patron saint of lovers and marriage. The story of St Valentine’s Day dates back to the 3rd century. Legend has it that Emperor Claudius II forbade his soldiers from marrying because he was convinced that a married soldier was a poor soldier – no longer as fierce and devoted to his lord. However, Bishop Valentine disregarded this prohibition, marrying soldiers and their lover in secret. The enraged ruler ordered Bishop Valentine’s imprisonment and beheading.
In Druskininkai, lovers can not only have fun, but also entrust their desires to their patron.
A continuation of tradition and an everlasting resort love story
The city’s romantic traditions continue. The Kurhaus is home to the Kolonada restaurant with enchanting live music evenings. In spring, the resort is flooded by the daffodil sea, and lovers spend their dates by Lithuania’s most beautiful musical fountain.
Looking at the Druskininkai city museum (Villa Linksma), it seems that we will soon see well-dressed ladies and gentlemen coming down the stairs, who have come to Druskininkai in search of health and resort romances. How many newlyweds have come down these stairs with honour! How many photos have been taken at the legendary “newlyweds” birch tree!
Druskininkai is a story of eternal love.
Druskininkai is an ongoing resort romance.
Are you ready to fall in love again?
Druskininkai Tourism and business information center – www.druskininkai.lt