Dusetos is a town in the Zarasai district on Lake Sartai, 34 kilometers north of Utena known for its winter horse races, usually held on the frozen lake. Races of this type were popular in Eastern Aukstaitija (in Obeliai, Svedasai, Uzpaliai, Zarasai) in the 19th century, and became a tradition in Dusetos starting in 1905.
There’s a lovely painting with silver raiment (1668) of the Madonna and Child on the high altar of the local historicist Church of the Holy Trinity (1888). Its gilt frame was probably added when enlarging the raiment in the 18th century. The priest of the first wooden chapel (1519) also ran a school founded in 1530 by the family Radziwiłł.
More history of Dusetos
Estate owners Plater built a wooden church in 1744. A belfry was constructed in the latter half of the 18th century, permission to put up a stone church obtained in 1886. Altars were installed at the end of the 19th century, with elements and sculptures from the wooden church. Vladas Čižauskas from Šiauliai decorated the walls in 1932..
There’s a monument to the poet Paulius Širvys, born 2 kilometers away in Padustėlis, in a nearby square, and a bust of the linguist Kazimiras Būga, born 5 kilometers away in Pažiege, in Independence Square, which also has an Independence monument built in 1928.
The Būga homestead has a memorial exhibition dedicated to Kazimieras. An administration building houses an art gallery with exhibitions of works by local and other artists. Among them are paintings by the prominent Šarūnas Sauka, who lived together with his family near this town.
Sartai Regional Park
Information about the area’s natural and cultural monuments is available at the Sartai Regional Park in Rokiškis. The Vosyna Reserve in Dusetos Forest protects the district’s oldest pine groves, swamps, and rare types of growth. Five kilometers north along the road to Obeliai is the village of Gipėnai and a homestead where once the poet and priest Antanas Vienažindys lived.
It now has a memorial room with copies of his manuscripts, a collection of books, and furniture from the end of the 19th century. A memorial stone in the village of Rokenai 8 kilometers northeast on the road to Antazave marks the birthplace of the composer Juozas Gruodis. The Vencavai windmill (1937), now a guest house, is along the road 8 kilometers southeast towards Degučiai.