Dieveniškės is a town in the Vilnius County

Vilnius County

Vilnius County is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Vilnius County remains as the territorial and statistical unit.-History:Until the Partitions of...

 of Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, located about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away from the Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

ian border in the so-called Dieveniškės appendix. Dieveniškės is surrounded by the Dieveniškės Regional Park

Dieveniškės Regional Park

Dieveniškės Regional Park, established in 1992, covers 11,000 hectares in southeastern Lithuania near the city of Šalčininkai. Its natural and cultural features include Bėčionys castle mound, the Norviliškės monastery complex, and geologic formations. Much of the village of Dieveniškės lies within...

.

History

The estate of Dieveniškės was first mentioned in 1385 as a village of a Lithuanian noble Mykolas Mingaila, possibly son of Gedgaudas. The settlement later was ruled by the Goštautai

Goštautai

Gostautai , masculine Gostautas and feminine form Gostautaite were a Lithuanian noble family, one of the most influential magnate families during the 15th and early 16th centuries...

 family. Stanislovas Goštautas

Stanislovas Goštautas

Stanislovas Goštautas was a notable member of the Lithuanian nobility and a high-ranking member of the Lithuanian administration...

 visited Dieveniškės with his wife Barbara Radziwill

Barbara Radziwill

Barbara Radziwiłł was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, and consort to King Sigismund II Augustus.- Biography :Barbara was the daughter of a powerful magnate of the Radziwiłł family, castellan, voivode and hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Jerzy Radziwiłł, and Barbara...

, who used to pray in Dieveniškės church, built in the 16th century.