Friday 28 October 2011

“Nature Heritage Objects of Lithuania - THE STONE OF PUNTUKAS”

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The Puntukas Stone is the second-largest, but the best known and visited boulder in Lithuania brought by glaciers from Scandinavia, which covered Lithuania during the last glacial period dating back almost 20 thousand years. 

The boulder stranded on the bank of the Šventoji River in a short distance from Anykščiai. A block of rapakivi (crumbly Finnish granite) measuring more than 7 metres in length and width, almost 6 metres in height (one and a half metres underground) weights 265 tons. It is believed that the ancient Balts performed religious rituals at Puntukas

In the middle of 20th century within the years 1942-1943, to commemorate in Lithuania the 10th anniversary of transatlantic flight performed by Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, the sculptor Bronius Pundzius engraved the portraits of the pilots and the quotes from their last will dedicated to the young State of Lithuania turning the stone into a unique monument of culture.

The souvenir sheet consist of one single stamp featured the Puntukas Stone with background of forest. This sheet has designed by H. Ratkevičius. and issued on August 20, 2010.

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