Night sky in Kernavė
History

Origins of the Kernavė’s thunder God Perkūnas

A bearded, long haired man with an austere face that is depicted by a 12 cm bronze sculpture is the most famous archeological find over the last 150 years, which made Kernavė famous. The man’s nakedness is covered with a cloth kerchief which is draped over his right hand and turned over hi s hips. We see an object of unclear origins in his elevated left hand that is decorated with wavy lines; in his right hand, the man is also holding something, however only a hole in the hand remains. There is a vertical hole one and a half centimeters in diameter in the sculpture. By the middle of the 19th century, they believed that they’d found in Kernavė, a sculpture of the pagan god of Thunder, Perkūnas. […]