Lepelioniai settlement of a mound with a settlement
Lepelioniai village, Stakliskes eldership, Prienai district municipality
Lepelioniai Castle Hill is situated in Prienai district. Formely an ancient settlement was situated nearby the hill. The main objective of its people was to supply a fortress that stood on the hill and its residents with food and all necessary things. Lepelionis was a noisy place in the old days! You could hear a blacksmith working in his forgery or someone shouting in the market thus trying to make a deal with the seller on one side of the settlement, and a noise emitted by a horse-drawn carriage on the other side. People also kept livestock and cultivated various crops in the fields. They prayed gods to send good weather as a guarantee of good harvest. Otherwise, they would had been unable to supply the residents of the castle with food. The welfare of the fortress was of the great concern to the people of the old settlement. Despite the fact that the castle was small, it stemmed to the sky on such a great hill! The old people call the hill not only Lepelioniai, but also Balnakalnis. And this is not surprising because the protruding top of the hill resembles a saddle (in Lithuanian balnas) of the horse, an inseparable assistant of a man.
Napoleon Hat is another name of Lepelioniai Mound becauses its shape is similar to the headgear that had been worn by the Emperor‘s troops. It is said that Napoleon was riding the horse towards Marijampole. Suddenly, a gust of wind had torn his hat of the head and threw it to the side of the road. The gallant French soldiers grabbed the hat, but the conceited commander stopped, looked at a map and ordered his soldiers to bury his hat on the edge of the public road. The soldiers scooped a soil with their helmets. This is how a hill that marks the middle of the way between Paris and Moscow was erected.
The old settlement has not survived into the present, though numerous traces of a former settlement have been recently found: heat-burnt stones, specimens of pottery with a smooth and rough surface, spindles and an arch-shaped brooch with a short fibula. You will either not find the old castle, the welfare of which was of the greatest concern to the old people. You will only see beautiful meadows, fields and crops. And the road that runs between Prienai and Trakai. But do not be deceived: the spirit of old centuries is still alive in Lepelioniai. Just try to feel it!
