Avikalnis (Sheep Hill)

Avikalnis rises in the Curonian Spit National Park. A viewing platform here opens onto the Avikalnis Cape palve complex and one of the most impressive panoramas of the Curonian Spit – the Nagliai Nature Reserve. From the Avikalnis viewpoint you can also clearly see the southern part of the parabolic dunes and a landscape of old-growth Scots pine fragments. Not without reason are these rustling old stands called ancient forest: they are more than 230 years old, and small areas of them survive only near Rasytė, Nida and Juodkrantė. Avikalnis Cape, on the eastern shore of the Curonian Spit, which has UNESCO World Heritage status, belongs to the Juodkrantė Landscape Reserve. It lies between the Juodkrantė recreational zone and the Nagliai Nature Reserve. The Juodkrantė Landscape Reserve covers as much as 260 hectares. There are several versions of the origin of the name Avikalnis. The first is linked to sound assimilation and translation: the German name Schapen (Berg), as the hill was named on a 1796 map, gradually changed to Schafen (Berg), which in German means sheep (Sheep Hill, or Avikalnis). The second version holds that local people gave the hill its name because, seen from the Curonian Lagoon, its outline resembles a sheep's head. Visitors to Avikalnis can enjoy the wonderful landscape, feel the peace of nature and relax in the shade of the trees that grow here and there.