This May NAC continuous Neringa Forest Architecture tours programme with foresters, landscape planners, historians, biologists, artists, and architects connected to Curonian Spit. Local professionals from various fields will share their knowledge, history, and insights into the environment and social structure of the peninsula. Hikes  will take place in various Curonian Spit sites on Saturdays, at 12 pm. The tours are conducted in Lithuanian but there is a possibility to organize on the spot translation to English.

Tours are free of charge and open to everyone. Registration is mandatory via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Upcoming tours:

Saturday, 27 May, 12 pm

Hike to Bulvikis cape

The tour route passes Purvynė village, Purvynės bay, Nida’s airport, Bulvikis cape and reaches Bulvikis camping ground. On the way, long-time forester Gediminas Dikšas tells a history and about maintenance works that took place in Purvynė, airport area and how reeds were planted to protect the dune from being washed away.

Meeting point: Purvynė bus stop (55.319536, 21.022047), Nida

Gediminas Virgilijus Dikšas is a long-time forester and ranger of Nida Forest division, he has been living and working in Nida since 1970 and is currently in retirement.

Saturday, 20 May, 12 pm 
Neringa small-scale architecture: benches

The tour presents different ways in which small-scale architecture shapes us, our habits, movement trajectories, and landscapes. Small architectural elements fill our daily lives with forms building social and spatial relationships. Anton Šramkov focuses on these aspects as he leads the tour along the pathways and analyzes benches on the route.

Meeting point: Nida Solar Clock-Calendar, Parnidis dune, Nida

Anton Shramkov was born in Moscow and graduated in architecture from the Moscow Institute of Architecture. He worked as a lecturer in Russia and Sweden. He has been living in Preila since 2007.

Saturday, 13 May, 12 pm

Life cycle of a trees in human lifetime 

Forest specialist Gražina Baninenė shares knowledge and expertise from seed growing to taking care of snags in parallel to human growth. Pointing out the intersection of human everyday actions and tree lifespan. The route takes visitors through various pine tree life cycles; mountain pine seedlings planted this spring and pine woodland planted 120 years ago.

Meeting point: Preila bus stop

Gražina Banienė was born in Seiniai, Poland and continued her studies at Lithuanian University of agriculture. Applying her knowledge of silviculture in practice, she works as a forestry specialist at Valstybinė miškų urėdija. Every spring, Gražina organises the National forest planting festival, inviting the public to get to know the forestry profession by planting trees.

Saturday, May 6, 12 pm
Nida - a settlement located in the amphitheater of Parnidis, Urbas and Angys dunes

During the tour Gražina Žemaitienė focuses on Nida, the settlement located in the amphitheater of Parnidis, Urbas and Angių dunes while discussing the Curonian Spit and the questions surrounding its existence today. Žemaitienė answers the question: what draws people here–the forest, dunes, sea or the settlements and a different way of living compared to mainland Lithuania.

Meeting point: Lotmiškis str. 1, next to the UNESCO World Heritage monument, Nida

Gražina Žemaitienė was born in Šilutė, studied at Kaunas University of Technology and moved to Neringa in 1989. Žemaitienė’s areas of work encompass the planning and realisation of landscape projects in the Curonian Spit and recreational objects in the forest as well as urban areas, and preventive work for visitors of the Curonian Spit.

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In collaboration with Nida Culture and Tourism information Center “Agila” and Curonian Spit National Park NAC is launching a series of free Neringa Forest Architecture tours. 

As discussions surrounding human intervention and activities in the natural landscape gain increasing significance, NAC is hosting a new research and residency programme called Neringa Forest Architecture. The project positions the Curonian forest as an experimental case study; an opportunity for participants to analyze the broader scope of forest-as-infrastructure including topics such as growth, transformation, policy making, management, technology, art and design in the Baltic-Scandinavian region.

As a part of the programme, NAC is facilitating a series of guided tours. Using the onsite woodshed as a literal and figurative departure point (the shed houses Neringa timber and is itself an object and location made using local wood), this series of walking expeditions is designed to cultivate inquiry and discussion about the unique juncture between ecological, political/managerial, recreational and industrial narratives associated with the Curonian woods, landscape and the built environment. 

Guided by forestry and national park experts, and architects living and working in the Curonian Spit in dialogue with pupils from Nida Gymnasium, Neringa Forest Architecture Tours facilitate conversation as well as exploration and education. The excursions, while an opportunity to observe the unique qualities of the Neringa Forest, are also a chance to engage in critical dialogue with professionals and pupils while traversing shifting geographical landscapes. Discussions will focus on the Curonian forest and its distinct eco-socio-political features including the complex legal and managerial processes behind its picturesque façade: How were the forests of Neringa planted? Why does the Neringa Forest and its pathways look this way? Why do trees need to be cut down? How does the local (human and animal) community participate in the making of Neringa Forest? What state and civic agencies and institutions are responsible in shaping it? What architecture is envisaged but currently not built? What do people in Neringa desire most in terms of infrastructure and why can it not be realised?

The excursions are free of charge but with a limited number of places available. Registration is mandatory by email 

  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . 

Neringa Forest Architecture is co-funded by NERINGA Lithuanian Capital of Culture 2021, Lithuanian Council for Culture and Nordic Culture Point.