Description of the attraction
In the resort town of Palanga on the Baltic Sea coast, there is a Lithuanian botanical garden surrounded by a pine forest. Before that, the park had a lot of names: Palanga Park, Tyshkevichiaus, Birutes. Now it bears the name of Palanga Botanical Garden.
As for history, we can say that the fishing houses, standing on the seashore, were located so close to the waters that the sand drifts and waves could reach the windowsills of the houses. It is believed that the word "palanga" comes from a root meaning lowland or wetland. It is assumed that such a wetland with fishing houses buried in the thick of sand, was acquired in 1824 by army colonel Mykolas Tyszkiewicz. The Tyszkiewicz family turned this village into a seaside resort town by the end of the 19th century.
In 1891 Felix Tyszkiewicz inherited the estate in Palanga. By 1897, the construction of the palace was completed. Soon a landscape park was founded around it, filled with elements of the classical style. The popular French architect and botanist François André was invited to implement the idea for the park. As you know, the parks of this master decorate many French, Italian and Dutch cities. Andre spent three summers with his son Rene Eduard Andre at the Palanga estate. Buissen de Coulon, a Belgian gardener, was also invited to create the park.
The most epicenter of the park is the Tyszkiewicz Palace, designed by the German architect Franco Schweiten. Now it houses the Amber Museum, which was opened in 1963. The palace is surrounded by a natural landscape, the contrast between which is clearly visible against the backdrop of the park's layout.
The park in Palanga is an excellent example of the successful use of the natural landscape. The wetlands have been transformed into picturesque islet ponds. The coastal bends are made in such a way that it seems that the water surface has an incredible length. Black alder flaunts behind the spireas along the coastal edge, which creates the illusion of water movement.
The composition of the park perfectly fits the natural reliefs of the area - dunes. The first dune has a height of 17 meters and is located on the northeastern side of the park and sets the direction of movement, which is accentuated at the fork, with a sculpture on it called “Egle the Queen of Snakes”.
The main structure of the park is represented by a pine forest, which is the unifying link of the entire space. Pine trunks bent into bizarre shapes create a strong impression, and their openwork crown, letting in the sun's rays, creates an interesting atmosphere in the park.
The park perfectly combines the interweaving of open and closed parts of the spaces, the alternation of which provides guests of the botanical garden with an unsurpassed change of impressions. The park route, which is clearly thought out, connects all the compositional parts of the park. Special landings from the winds reliably protect the glades, and after all, winds on the Baltic coast are not uncommon. It is the glades that create the general impression of landscape paintings and create an excellent overview of the entire palace, shrubs, trees and a pond.
The park has numerous entrances, so you can easily enter it from any side. But, despite this, it merges with an imperceptible line with the natural pine forest, which surrounds the park on three sides; only on the northern side, it has a fence from the remote part of the resort town in the form of a transparent fence with a considerable number of passages.
Saplings for the foundation of the park were brought to Palanga from Keningsberg, Paris, Berlin and many other European botanical gardens. In addition, exotic plants were introduced, represented by various deciduous species. The park also has decorative forms of black pine, paper birch, hornbeam, gray walnut and Siebold. It was the introduction of exotic specimens into the arrangement of the park that made it possible to expand the species composition of the plants presented in the park - for this reason, the park was renamed the Botanical Garden. According to 1992 data, there were 370 species of herbaceous plants and more than 250 species of woody and shrubby vegetation in the park's collection.
