Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the way of turning the mythical stone Puntukas, which was well-established in Lithuanian folklore, inspiring several place legends and finding its way into the famous poem by Baranauskas, into an object of national heritage and a site of patriotic pilgrimage.

Paper long abstract:

The huge boulder of Puntukas, situated in the middle of Anykščiai wood, was until 1956 considered the biggest stone in Lithuania. In Lithuanian folklore, there are several place-legends about this stone, the most popular one describing the devil unsuccessfully using the stone to destroy the Anykščiai Church. This legend of Puntukas also found its way into the famous 19th century poem by Antanas Baranauskas. However, Puntukas gained particular importance from the middle of the 20th century, when sculptor Bronius Pundzius, aided by several local stone masters, in 1943 chiseled a bas-relief of the legendary Lithuanian aviators Darius and Girėnas, along with the words from their testament. This action, undertaken on the initiative of a devoted cultural activist Tomas Zauka, became a center of controversies and even condemnation by the local clergy and some writers, who labeled the transformation of Puntukas a “tragedy” and even a sacrilege. Nevertheless, since then, Puntukas acquired a new meaning as a great national and patriotic monument, attracting big numbers of visitors.