Only in Panevėžys: 20 Things You Won’t Find Anywhere Else

Panevėžys is often called Lithuania’s industrial city – but it also hides things you will not find anywhere else in Lithuania, in the Baltics or even in Europe. Here are 20 of them, based on the official maps of the Panevėžys Development Agency. Most are a short walk from Artihost at Savanorių a. 12, where we offer guests free tea and a guest kitchen to use.

1. A railway where two gauges meet

The Aukštaitija narrow-gauge railway has carried passengers for more than a hundred years, and the Panevėžys station is the only place where a broad-gauge and a narrow-gauge railway connect. Today “Siaurukas” runs as a historic tourist train – ride it, or try a handcart on the old tracks.

Aukštaitija Narrow-Gauge Railway, Geležinkelio g. 23 – open map · website

2. Europe’s only theatre on wheels

The Puppet Wagon Theatre is unique in Europe: every summer a horse-drawn wagon with actors tours the towns of Lithuania. Inside the theatre a toy train runs along the ceiling and fairy-tale puppets move at the press of a button.

Puppet Wagon Theatre, Respublikos g. 30 – open map · website

3. A fountain show unlike any in the Baltics

In the old river bed in the city centre, the dancing light-and-music fountain performs on warm evenings – a show the city describes as having no equivalent in the Baltic states.

Senvagė (old river bed), Elektros g. – open map

4. Lithuania’s largest glass gallery

Glasremis, founded by glass artist Remigijus Kriukas, is the largest glass gallery in Lithuania. You can see how hand-formed glass is made and take home a piece that exists nowhere else.

Glass Art Studio “Glasremis”, Meistrų g. 9 – open map · website

5. A record collection of fireclay ceramics

The Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery holds the largest collection of fireclay (chamotte) ceramics – more than 700 works from artists around the world, many made at its international symposiums held since 1990. In 2021 it was voted the most attractive visited site in Lithuania.

Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery, Respublikos g. 3 – open map · website

6. The brewery that never stopped

Kalnapilis, founded in 1902, is the oldest company in Panevėžys and the only brewery in Lithuania that has never stopped brewing since the day it opened. Look for the giant mural on its wall.

Kalnapilis brewery, Taikos al. 1 – open map · website

7. Lithuania’s oldest Lithuanian bookshop

Book smuggler Juozas Masiulis opened his shop legally as soon as the press ban was lifted in 1905. It is the oldest Lithuanian bookshop in the country, and its pre-war portrait of Masiulis still hangs inside.

J. Masiulis Bookshop, Respublikos g. 21 – open map · website

8. The oldest archive building in Lithuania

The 400-year-old brick house on Kranto street is the oldest building in Panevėžys and the oldest archive building in Lithuania – it once kept the region’s most important court documents.

The oldest building in Panevėžys, Kranto g. 21 – open map · website

9. Lithuania’s largest open-air gallery

The walls of the former Ekranas factory – once one of Europe’s major makers of colour TV tubes – now carry 600 m² of photo murals with audio stories of former workers. Together they form the largest open-air gallery in Lithuania, “Dabarties Ekranas”.

Ekranas factory site – “Dabarties Ekranas” gallery, Elektronikos g. 1 – open map · website

10. A wooden school with a tower

The Nature School of Panevėžys works in the only two-storey wooden school building with a mezzanine and tower in Lithuania. It has a mini-zoo with more than 50 species – and a talking raven.

Nature School of Panevėžys, Smėlynės g. 171 – open map · website

11. Where the bison came back

Lithuania’s revival of the European bison began at the Pašiliai paddock near Krekenava in 1969. From the viewing platform you can watch Europe’s largest land animal.

Pašiliai bison paddock, Girelės vs., Krekenava – open map · website

12. A tree hung with thousands of keys

It started with a box of 70 keys found underground next to an ash tree. Today thousands of keys hang on it, left by newlyweds and by people seeking the truth – the tree has been struck by lightning four times and is also called the Tree of Truth.

The Key Tree, Birutės g. 5 – open map

13. One of Lithuania’s oldest regional museums

Founded in 1925, the Panevėžys Local Lore Museum is one of the oldest regional museums in Lithuania. Join its kitchen class and make traditional Aukštaitija dumplings.

Panevėžys Local Lore Museum, Vasario 16-osios g. 23 – open map · website

14. Northern Lithuania’s biggest spring stage

“Menas” theatre hosts the biggest spring event in Northern Lithuania – an international chamber performing-arts festival. Don Quixote guards the door.

“Menas” Theatre, Vasario 16-osios g. 19 – open map · website

15. The first private industrial mill in the Baltics

Berel Rubinstein’s mill on Kranto street was the first industrial mill in the Baltic states owned by a private individual, famous for its “Bear Flour”. The building now houses a hotel, restaurant and spa.

Berel Rubinstein’s mill, Kranto g. 24 – open map · website

16. Industrial records

Panevėžys glass factory was once the largest building-glass maker in the Baltics, Aurida was the only plant of its kind in the USSR, and Roquette Amilina is today one of Northern Europe’s largest starch producers. Follow them all on the industrial route.

Panevėžio stiklas (glass factory), Pramonės g. 10 – open map · website

17. A horror room in a secret base

The Bunker Park of Ideas, in a former secret military communications base, has one of the largest horror rooms in Lithuania – and a forest full of metal animal sculptures.

Bunker Park of Ideas, Vabalninko g. 73, Likpetrių k. – open map · website

18. The “cousin of Puntukas”

The Rapolas boulder in Krekenava Regional Park measures 14.5 m around and 2.5 m high – big enough that locals call it the cousin of Lithuania’s famous Puntukas stone.

Rapolas stone, Varnakalnio k. – open map · website

19. A pear tree full of phones

Near the city, one wild pear tree carries telephones of every era, from rotary landlines to smartphones – a tiny open-air phone museum.

Telephone tree, Smiltynės g. 1, Berčiūnų k. – open map

20. Fairy tales you can touch – and hear

Gyvapasakis is our own project: interactive ceramic sculptures by different artists, each telling an old Aukštaitija fairy tale. Scan the QR code to hear the tale told by a storyteller.

Gyvapasakis – living Aukštaitija fairy tales, Outdoor play space, Panevėžys – open map · website

And one more: an art residency in a hostel

Artihost is the first continuous professional art and culture residency in Panevėžys – a hostel, co-working space and residency under one roof. Every stay supports artists like photographer Martina Sedda.

See it with a guide

Want to see these places with a local guide? Choose a 1-, 2- or 3-hour tour on Artihost Explore – Artihost guests get 30% off. Plan your visit with our guides: what to see, industrial tourism, Panevėžys with children and around Panevėžys, or download the free maps.

Facts are based on the publications of the Panevėžys Development Agency (2021–2022).