Section of the Old Vilnius–Kaunas Road

In 1794, units of the tsarist army fleeing from the rebels retreated along this road, and in 1812 - the remnants of Napoleon Bonaparte's Great Army. Then the French, persecuted by the Russians, realized that they would not be able to overcome the steep and icy slopes of Paneri, and left a lot of ammunition, an artillery cannon and even an army treasury at their foot. in memory of the victims of the uprising, although the battle itself took place a little further away. The road to Kaunas has apparently existed in this place since ancient times, but no information about it has survived. 19th century the poet and local explorer Vladislovas Sirokomlė (1823 - 1862) wrote that the heavily excavated Mount Paneris was once so steep that it was difficult to stop horses going down the old road. One of the main Lithuanian roads of that time was characterized not only by its steepness, but also by its narrowness. Two carts could hardly pass through it, so, according to Sirokomlė, those going up the mountain shot in the air to warn those going down it.

Quiet stony path