- Place
- Kaunas District Municipality
- Region
- Kaunas County
- Type
- small literary park of oak carvings beside the Pranas and Jonas Mašiotas summer house in Kačerginė
- Address
- J. Janonio g. 40, Kačerginė, Kaunas District
- Coordinates
- 54.93286, 23.71279
- Visit duration
- 30-60 minutes for the carvings, panels, and Mašiotynė setting; longer for an educational session or event
- Best time
- a dry day from May to September, when details of the timber carvings are easiest to see
Prano Mašioto pasakų parkas, Mašiotynė Fairy-Tale Park, Mašiotynė, Writer Pranas Mašiotas Fairy-Tale Park
The park occupies the Mašiotynė garden, not a large amusement complex
Pranas Mašiotas Fairy-Tale Park stands at J. Janonio g. 40 in Kačerginė, in the former village of Palankiai and the grounds of the Mašiotas family's summer retreat. Coordinates 54.9328584, 23.7127888 mark the carvings and small house themselves. This is a quiet, compact literary stop rather than a ticketed amusement park.
The best approach is unhurried: read the information panels, compare the hands of different carvers, and notice how a work becomes a bench, a swing, or decoration for a well. Thirty to sixty minutes is normally enough for the core visit.
The name Mašiotynė covers the summer retreat associated with Pranas Mašiotas, his son Jonas, and their family, as well as its immediate setting. Maps may therefore use the park, writer's house, and Mašiotynė names for closely connected places whose interiors are not necessarily open in the same way.
Pranas Mašiotas spent his final creative years in Kačerginė
Pranas Mašiotas was a writer, educator, translator, and cultural activist. VLE records that he was born in 1863, graduated in mathematics from Moscow University, worked as a teacher, served as deputy minister of education in 1919-1923, and directed the Lithuanian gymnasium in Klaipėda from 1924 to 1929.
The Kačerginė summer property was established in 1937, and Mašiotas lived and worked here in 1938-1940. He died in Kačerginė on 14 September 1940. The Nemunas, pinewood, and family setting belong to a documented final period of his life, not a legend created for the park.
He published about 140 books, around 30 of them original, with translations, adaptations, textbooks, and teaching materials forming much of the rest. Children's titles such as Mano dovanėlė, Senio pasakos, Augalų pasakos, and Kiškiai, alongside the educational Pasakos - nepasakos and Mokslo pasakos, explain the park's mixture of animals, plants, a storyteller, and curiosity-driven scenes.
Two carving camps formed a core ensemble of fourteen oak works
In 2004, the Pranas and Jonas Mašiotas Legacy Society, Kačerginė Cultural Centre, and woodcarvers organised the first national camp for young sculptors. It marked 100 years since the restoration of Lithuania's press, linking children's literature with the broader history of the written Lithuanian word.
Seven oak works emerged from the first camp, and a second camp added another seven in 2005. The society's official chronicle names experienced folk artists Algirdas Jasilionis, Adolfas Teresius, Vidmantas Vikšraitis, and Stasys Čėsna alongside younger participants.
These are not illustrations placed only on pedestals. The Grandpa of Fairy Tales combines human and animal motifs, Vikšras ir varna becomes a swing composition, and a serpent-carved well turns an everyday object into art. The changing scale and function invite a child not merely to recognise a figure but to ask which story it belongs to.
The community renewed both the carvings and the story of the place in 2023
After almost two decades outdoors, moisture and sunlight had affected the timber. In 2023, local donations funded conservation by sculptor Vidmantas Vikšraitis: fourteen older works were cleaned, impregnated, and refreshed.
Some accounts refer to seventeen sculptural objects in the park. The total can differ depending on whether later works, benches, swings, and other carvings are counted separately. Fourteen is the best-documented number for the principal 2004-2005 ensemble - seven works from each camp.
The Mašiotų parko rytdiena project added a pavilion ringed by chair-benches, lighting, and four panels about the Mašiotas family, Palankiai village, and its residents. Museum, educational, and event rooms were created in the renovated small house, but that does not make it a permanently open daily museum.
The outdoor display is straightforward, while interior visits and sessions require arrangements
At the time of research, official pages did not publish permanent daily hours or a standing admission price for the house. The outdoor works can be viewed as a park space, but contact the Pranas and Jonas Mašiotas Legacy Society or Kačerginė Ward in advance for a tour, educational session, event, or interior access.
Paths, lawn, and the pavilion make an easy family stop, but natural surfaces, thresholds, and wet weather can make wheeled access harder. Some compositions are meant for sitting or swinging; decorative figures should not be climbed, and timber can be slippery after rain.
On 27 July 2026, the exact Google Maps listing named Prano Mašioto pasakų parkas showed 4.5. Google's public response did not expose a review count that day, so no current total is presented as exact; an older publicly indexed snapshot from November 2025 showed about 120 reviews. Both rating and total can change.
