Aukštojas Hill is the highest point of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is located in the Medininkai Highlands, Migūnai forestry, approximately southeast of the capital city of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. Its elevation was measured in 2004 at by specialists at the Institute of Geodesy at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, using GPS technology. Previously, Juozapinė Hill, at , had been considered as the highest point in

. Aukštojas and Juozapinė are located approximately from one another. The designated use of the land where Aukštojas Hill is situated has been changed by the Vilnius county governor from agricultural to tourism and cultural. The summit of the hill features a grove of pine trees, characteristic of the Medininkai region as whole. The name "Aukštojas" was suggested by Libertas Klimka, a professor of history at the Vilnius Pedagogical University, and was the winner of a contest to decide the best name for the newly discovered elevation. Aukštėjas (Aukštojas, Aukštujis) was one of the epithets for the supreme deity, Dievas, in ancient

Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic myth ...

; he was considered the creator of the world. The hill was 'baptised' on June 20, 2005, during an unofficial ceremony. The name was officially approved by the Vilnius Region Municipality Council on November 18, 2005. An alternate name, 'Aukštėjas Hill', was discarded as a nominee by the State Commission on the Lithuanian language, on the grounds that its suffix ("-ėj-") was not standard usage for a place-name.

References

External links

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On the Lithuanian War-path to Aukštėjas Hill
- Libertas Klimka's article on the history behind the Aukštojas Hill issue *
The new highest hill in Lithuania
- Lithuanian internet media on the new highest elevation *

- The commission's approval of 'Aukštojas' as the morphologically most acceptable spelling variant of the place-name *

United Nations Working Paper: Geographical names in the Baltic nations {{DEFAULTSORT:Aukstojas Hill Hills of Lithuania Landmarks in Lithuania Highest points of countries

See also

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External links