Here you will find information about the geography, climate, nature and history of Druskininkai resort.
 
Druskininkai is the most southern town in Lithuania, the oldest and the biggest country resort, famous for its salty springs, mild and warm microclimate. The resort is close to the border with Poland and Belarus, about 130 km from Vilnius and Kaunas.
Today Druskininkai resort is situated in a location, where a very long time ago there used to be a strip of sand separating the sea from the shore. Here the sea salt had accumulated, which later was buried deep in the soil. Now through these salt layers mineral springs find their way to the surface.
In 1794, by a decree of Stanislovas Augustas Poniatovskis, Druskininkai was declared a therapeutic place. This was the time, when more thorough research of therapeutic resources began. Already in the beginning of the 19th century, mineral water and mud baths were unofficially operating in Druskininkai. Mineral water and therapeutic mud, which made the resort famous for hundreds of years, are supplemented today with modern technology.
Today the resort is famous for its old traditions of senatorial therapy, beautiful nature and rapidly developing industry of tourism services. It is an international resort of active recreation and therapy.
 
About Druskininkai
 
Geography

Druskininkai is situated 60 km south of Alytus; it belongs to Alytus County and is the centre of Druskininkai Municipality. Today the area of Druskininkai is approx. 2241 ha with 215,000 inhabitants. The old town of Druskininkai has a status of urban conservation.
Druskininkai resort has an elevation of 95.14 m above sea level and is situated on the right bank of river Nemunas. The highest point of elevation is the Health Park (K. Dineika Park), which is situated 105 m above sea level, and the lowest is the bank of Nemunas next to the Physiotherapic Health Care Facility.
In the west-east direction Druskininkai is surrounded by the river Nemunas for 3.5 km. A tributary river is the Ratnyčia (Ratnyčėlė). In the southern part of town there is a lake, Druskonis, a pond Vijūnėlis and a small lake, Mergelių akys. In the eastern part of the resort there is a pond Saulės takas, equipped with cascade baths.
There are no big industrial plants in the territory of Druskininkai Municipality, therefore the air and the water here are exceptionally clean. Within 8-10 km around Druskininkai there are even 12 clean lakes.
 
Climate

The climate of Druskininkai is favourably climotherapeutic and recreational. Undulating landscape prevails; there is an abundance of medium and small lakes. The average maximum temperature during summer (June, July and August) is higher than 22 °C. Precipitation amounts to 661 mm a year. Wind speed in the resort during the months of July and August is 2.4-2.6 m/s. Southwest, west and northwest winds prevail, whereas in winter the winds blow from southeast, east, and southwest.

 
Nature

Even though the pinewoods of Druskininkai are far from the sea, one can still find dunes there. Only these are not like the dunes near the sea – these are seif dunes. They are piny. In the dunes of Dzūkija the prevailing plant is juniper. The ground is covered with a continuous cover of moss. Here one can find a lot of medicinal plants: kinnikinics, thymes, tutsans, and an abundancy of mushrooms.
Pinewood prevails in the forests. They are rich with biological variety. They are loved by birds: larks, snipes, white backed woodpeckers, ernes, owls, eagle owls. In the pinewoods of Druskininkai one can find rare insects: in the spots warmed by sunlight one can see a sand lizard, a simple adder, a slowworm. The animal most often noticeable by everybody is a simple squirrel. Near the sides of the forests and fields one can see a hare. Under the thick firs live raccoon dogs  Nyctereutes procyonoides).
In the forests of Dzūkija one can find a brown fox, a wolf, a lynx, a wild boar. The biggest animal of the pinewood is the moose. It likes huge pinewood arrays. Near the brooks or fields one can see roes.
The forests of Druskininkai are attractive not only to mushroom pickers, but to berry gatherers as well. Forests are abundant with blueberries, cowberries, raspberries and buckthorns.
 
History

The researches of the history of the resort think that already in the 13th century on the confluence of Nemunas and Ratnyčia rivers there was a defence castle. Already a long time ago there were springs, saturated with mineral salt, therefore the name Druskininkai (salty springs) is related to salt.
The first known written source mentioning Druskininkai is the Lithuanian Metrics. Local peasants were the first to find out about the therapeutic power of the springs. They noticed that after wading into some of the springs near the river Nemunas, wounds on their legs healed faster. Therefore around 17th-19th century the smarter inhabitants of Druskininkai started to ‘heal‘other people. In the 18th century the dynasty of Sūručiai (Sūrmiečiai, Suraučiai) therapists became especially famous.
In 1789, Druskininkai attracted the attention of Parliament (Seimas) members who came together in Gardinas. Encouraged by them, the place was visited by the king of Lithuania and Poland, Stanislovas Augustas Poniatovskis. Around 1790 by his order the royal doctor began to research the therapeutic qualities of Druskininkai mineral water and by decree of June 20, 1794 Druskininkai were declared a therapeutic location.
However Druskininkai became a real resort after Vilnius University professor I. Fonbergas published the analysis of the chemical composition of Druskininkai mineral spring water in 1835. After having submitted the data to the tsar Nikolaj I, permission was granted in 1837 to have Druskininkai developed into a resort, even though unofficially mineral and mud baths had been operating since the turn of the century.  By the end of the 19th century, Druskininkai was famous not only in all of the Russian tsarist empire, but in foreign countries as well.
In 1924-1939 the Therapy Park using Sun, Air and Movement ("Zaklad lecznicznego stosowania slonca, powietrza i ruchu") established by doctor E. Levicka was especially popular. The park had separate sectors for males, females and children. After World War II, in 1951 the therapeutic methodist of therapeutic physical culture, Karolis Dineika, began the reconstruction of the park and application of therapy. During Soviet rule the infrastructure of the resort was adapted to mass therapy of the people from all over the USSR. At that time there were 10 sanatoriums, and mineral water and therapeutic mud facilities as well as physiotherapic health care facilities were built. Every year around 400,000 people came here to relax.
Druskininkai is famous not only for its unique natural springs, but for world famous artists as well. Here the painter and composer M. K. Čiurlionis was doing his creative work, and famous sculptor modernist Jacques Lipschitz was born here.
 
You can find out more about the past of Druskininkai, therapeutic trends and development of resort therapy by visiting the Museum of Druskininkai at M. K. Čiurlionio St, 59 in Druskininkai.
 
Famous people from Druskininkai
 
One of the most famous Lithuanian artists was a painter and a composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.

M. K. Čiurlionis lived in Druskininkai in 1878-1885.
 
Jacques Lipschitz, cubist sculptor , was born in Druskininkai.
 
Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas - professor and painter. For some period of time he was doing his creative work in Druskininkai.
 
Karolis Dineika was a specialist of therapeutic physical culture. From 1952 he was the head of Druskininkai resort park of therapeutic physical culture.