Parnidis Dune and Sundial – Calendar

With a height of 52 m, the Parnidis dune is one of the tallest in the whole Curonian Spit and the tallest in the Nida city region. It is guessed that the name “Parnidis” came from the Lithuanian phrase “perėjusi per Nidą” (walked through Nida) as the dune with the help of the wind had covered the old Nida settlements a few times.

In the year 1995 on the top of the Parnidis dune a sundial – calendar was built. Its crown jewel – the obelisk is 12 m tall with 2 m beneath the ground, with a weight of 200 tons it was transported from Vyborg pits in Russia. It is decorated with symbols copied from the 17th-century old wooden rune calendar.

The whole area is covered with granite plates at 16 different heights marking 12 months and 4 solstice and equinox lines. Curonian Spit is the only suitable place for such a complex construction, actually, the conditions here are perfect – it is the only place in Lithuania where the sun rises and sets into the water which opens the absolute mathematical horizon.Read more