The beautiful 62-mile road that saved the world’s oldest Indo-European language

This beautiful road that stretches for more than 62 miles travels past a number of 17th-century castles, and pretty towns.

However, as beautiful as it is, it also holds a deep significance in history.

The road, which marks what once was the border between and East Prussia, now Kaliningrad, was also part of an incredible movement that took place in the late 19th century to save the Lithuanian language – commonly considered the oldest surviving Indo-European language in the world.

The construction of Panemune dates back to the early 13th century.

Along with the road, a number of early medieval fortresses and castles were designed to protect the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the invading Teutonic forces coming from Prussia.

The road then became a huge trade and travel route as the fortresses became mansions for the nobility, and smaller towns grew around them, reports .

But how this route saved the precious language goes back between 1865 and 1904, when the Lithuanian language was banned under the tsarist Russiain rule, which controlled mass areas of the country at the time.

At the time, it was prohibited to print, process and distribute any publications in Lithuanian with the alphabet. But this ban didn’t stop people – rather, it just birthed a huge resistance network of groups.

Over three million books, scientific papers, textbooks and newspapers were printed in Lithuanian in East Prussia and the US, which both had large populations of Lithuanian emigres.

According to historian Vytautas Merkys, during the 39-year period over 40,000 Lithuanian-language publications were smuggled into the country via the Panemune road.

The road being close to both East Prussia and Poland was beneficial as it allowed it to act as an entry point to the nation for the resistance publishers and book smugglers.

Tilze, which is now Sovetsk, Kalinigrad was one of the prominent locations where smugglers crossed, as well as the road’s final point. The city of Kaunas, which was Lithuania’s capital between 1919 and 1940, was a hub for cultural resistance against .

Historian and educator, Vaidas Banys said: “Essentially, Panemunė was the main artery through which the Lithuanian printed press and books reached the country. River Nemunas was a crucial point for crossing into the country.

“Some book smugglers swam across, carrying bundled-up books on their bodies, while some transported books hidden in steamboats or paid merchants to help.”

The banned publications were often transported along the backroads of Panemune in horse-drawn carts hidden in stacks of hay, furniture and even empty coffins.

The expert believes that these smugglers were key to saving the Lithuanian language but also solifidying Lithianian idenity and its fight for independence.