Norviliškės is an amazing place if you are interested in borders. Like Sakaline it is a divided village, this time with Piackuny. The village is divided by the EU external frontier and the Belorussian villagers are cut off from the Church and the cemetery which is situated right next to the border. Thanks to Jan Krogh we had permission to go through the EU fence up to the border itself.

Norviliškės is a small village located about 12 km northeast of the town of Dieveniškės. It has a reconstructed castle and since 2005 has been a venue for conferences. Since 2007, the music festival Be2gether is held annually.

It has a local border crossing for pedestrians only. Whilst we were there several Belorussian villagers crossed, although one couple were not allowed due to their paperwork not being in order, both sets of Border Guards spoke to one another (in Russian).

Border Crossing

With permission to access the Lithuanian territory on “other” side of the fence, it was possible to get some fantastic shots of the border close up.

The Church and cemetery

The Catholic church of St. Mary is a Renaissance style church, the cemetery extends to the border fence.

The Castle

YouTube Videos

References

1. Lithuanian-Belorussian border: Divided villages, divided lives 15min LT Article
2. Vox europ The New Iron Curtain (October 2012) Article