Druskininkai is located in the south of Lithuania, on the right side of the Nemunas river at a bend in the river. The town is surrounded by coniferous forests, where M. K. Čiurlionis, the artist from Lithuania, used to go for walks and daydream, and where he spent his childhood.

Druskininkai was first mentioned in written sources in 1636, but already in the 13th century the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a fortress that was part of the Panemunė defensive system. The name of the town is believed to have originated from the speciality "salt worker" ("druskininkas"), and the town took this name in 1765.

Since ancient times, Druskininkai has been known for its mineral springs, which, according to legend, were found in the place where the wife of a prince shed tears when she was frightened that her husband had drowned in the Nemunas river (he emerged alive and well with a falcon from the water). On the orders of Grand Duke Stanislaw Poniatowski of Lithuania, research was carried out on the healing properties of the mineral waters and, after the results were confirmed, Druskininkai was declared a healing place in 1794. In 1837, the town was granted the status of a health resort, making it the oldest balneological, mud and climatic resort in Lithuania.

The number of resort visitors increased especially after the opening of the St Petersburg-Warsaw railway in 1862 (the nearest stop is Varėna), which made it easier for tourists to reach the spa. This paid off, with Druskininkai becoming the third most visited resort in the Russian Empire (after the Caucasus and the Crimea) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Druskininkai and M. K. Čiurlionis

The first child of the Čiurlionis family attended school here, received the initial knowledge of music, and observed the surroundings (Druskininkai), which at that time were already full of health resorts, hotels, summer cottages, and people coming from Vilnius and Warsaw. Druskininkai became a very important place for M.K. Čiurlionis in his life and work.

For Čiurlionis' parents and the whole family, it was a very important tourist destination. Čiurlionis' parents owned a house which they used to rent out to people on holiday in the summer, which was a major financial contribution to the life of the family of 11.

Druskininkai can also boast of being the beginning of Čiurlionis' creative journey. In 1844-1852, the first wooden Catholic church was built in Druskininkai, where Konstantinas Čiurlionis began to play the organ in 1878, replaced on some days by his talented son, Mikalojus Konstantinas.

There is a lot of information about Čiurlionis' time in Druskininkai in J. Čiurlionytė's book "Memoirs of M. K. Čiurlionis".

Druskininkai

Druskininkai

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