Šventaragis' Valley

While the legends are generally dismissed as fiction by historians, they have been studied and analysed from the perspective of pre-Christian Lithuanian mythology by Vladimir Toporov, Gintaras Beresnevičius, Norbertas Vėlius, Vykintas Vaitkevičius, and others.

[1][2] Duke Šventaragis (from the legendary Palemonids dynasty) selected a beautiful location in a valley at the confluence of Neris and Vilnia Rivers and ordered his son Skirmantas to establish a temple where he would be cremated after his death.

There he had a dream about a howling Iron Wolf which pagan priest Lizdeika interpreted that Gediminas should built the capital of Lithuania at this location.

In his work, published in 1582, Stryjkowski elaborated that the valley has a temple dedicated to Perkūnas, the god of thunder, maintained an eternal flame, and was located where Vilnius Cathedral stands today.

[4] In 1980s, archaeological research by Napaleonas Kitkauskas and Albertas Lisanka uncovered remnants of an earlier square structure under the present-day Vilnius Cathedral.