The best gravel rides in Alytus County

Nice place to take photo.

Pūčkornės is a village in Varėna district municipality, 5 km west of Valkininkai and about 3 km northeast of Naujės Valkininkai. The village is located in a forest, on the banks of the Spengla River. Roads to N. Valkininkai, Degsniai, Vaitkarčmis, Spengla. The village of Pūčkornės has been known since the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is assumed that a Grand Duchy of Lithuania arms mint was established here in 1551, which was powered by a dam on the Spengla River. Cannons were cast from copper and tin, shells and gunpowder were made. Part of the iron ore required for production was extracted locally. The production of Pūčkornės was transported to the Vilnius Arsenal. In 1605–1611, 34 blacksmiths, 29 wheelwrights, 16 shoemakers, and 6 ironworkers worked at the mint. It is believed that the mint was destroyed by the Russians in 1655. In the 19th century. At the end of the 19th century, Pūčkornės (Puškarnia) was a state-owned village in the Valkininkai rural municipality, Vaitkarčmis eldership, Trakai county. There was a Lithuanian school. During the LSSR, the village was attached to the Valkininkai district, the "Red Flag" collective farm. For a while, the village of Spenglas was attached to Pūčkornės.

Popular campsite, with gazebos, outdoor toilet, etc.

A well-preserved ethnographic village with neat homesteads.

viewpoint on the cliff

The church in the village of Marcinkonys was unfortunately closed. The priest lives in the gray house next door but wasn't home when we rang the bell. Judging by the photos on the plaque, it must be worth seeing.

In 1998, a cross carved by folk artist Juozapas Jakštas was erected on the territory of the monastery, commemorating the Battle of Valkininkai. There have been tragic events in the history of the Valkininkai Monastery. In 1700, a civil war took place in Lithuania between the Sapieha family and the noble opposition that formed the Valkininkai Confederation, who fought against the positions of the Sapieha family in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and wanted to limit the power of the Sapieha family. On November 18, 1700, the Battle of Valkininkai took place in the fields between Valkininkai and Liepāny. The Valkininkai Confederation consisted of 4,000 soldiers, while the Sapieha forces, led by the Grand Duke of Lithuania's Grand Horseman Mykolas Pranciškus Sapieha, the son of the Vilnius Voivode and Grand Duke of Lithuania's Grand Hetman Kazimierz Jonas Sapieha, the same one who built the Sapieha Palace in Antakalnis, were half as small. The battle lasted several hours, with several hundred people killed on both sides. The Battle of Valkininkai is also immortalized in the second book of Kristina Sabaliauskaitė's "Silva Rerum", where it is mentioned that near Valkininkai, in a fratricidal war of Lithuanian against Lithuanian, the two eldest sons of Uršulė Birontienė and Jonas Kirdėjas Birontas, Jonas Motiejus and Samuelis Jeronimas, were killed. After the battle, Mykolas Pranciškus Sapiega hid in the Valkininkai monastery, but drunken nobles found him and cut him to pieces with swords right there in the monastery. After the defeat, the Sapiegas were punished with infamia, or deprivation of honor, and their estates were confiscated.

In 1635 or 1636, after the establishment of the Franciscan monastery, Jews began to settle in the town, who in 1642 received a privilege to keep a distillery. The Valkininkai church barely stood out in the town, so in 1635 - 1650 a Franciscan monastery was built. The double-towered church with 2-storey U-plan monastery buildings rose on the western outskirts of Valkininkai, behind Merkys. This Renaissance and Baroque architectural complex became the most important landmark of the town and the surrounding area. In 1832, the Franciscan monastery was abolished, and a military unit was established in it. By 1867-1868, the monastery building was adapted for barracks; the church towers were demolished, and the rest of it was rebuilt into a church. The town and the surrounding area lost a significant landmark. In 1920 – In 1939, Valkininkai was occupied by Poland, many people emigrated, the town almost did not grow. The army was stationed in the former monastery. In 1939, Valkininkai was returned to Lithuania. During World War II, Valkininkai suffered, the former Franciscan monastery was blown up.