Perkūnas Oak

The scar running down this trunk is the reason for the name. Lithuanians call it Perkunas's oak, after the pre-Christian thunder god, and the lightning damage is still there to look at. Two legends explain how it was struck and neither can be checked. In the first, a vestal named Galinda wept under the oak for a lover who had ridden off against the Teutonic Knights and never came back, and Perkunas hit the tree while she was weeping. In the second, the sacred fire kept on this spot was put out when Samogitia was Christianised, and the god struck in anger at the loss. The ground here is said to have been an alka, a pre-Christian sacred grove. The documented part is shorter. It is the oldest oak in Plunge Manor Park, 4.86 metres round measured at 0.9 metres, 26 metres tall, protected as a nature monument since 1960 and raised to republican significance in 1987, decades before the park's three other protected trees were listed in 2016. Maria Skuzewska, wife of Duke Mykolas Oginskis, is remembered by old residents for staging plays for children under it, and a sundial once stood behind it above the Babrungas valley. It is winding down. The crown spreads about 25 metres and carries only around 60 percent of its leaves. Nobody has ever put a number on its age, legend aside, so if you have seen one recorded, tell us. Stop 10 on the park trail, beside the palace.