The landscape of Panemunė castles: value and protection problems

The article studies historic and cultural value of landscape having formed in the mid-section of the right bank of Nemunas River (between Jurbarkas and Kaunas). The article gives methodological principles and criteria based on which a historic expressiveness of landscape is assessed. A historic value of the study territory is described, also its unique features in the context of Lithuania, and the relevant aspects of cultural cognitive potential. It is revealed that till now the largest attention has been paid to the existing buildings of Panemunė (Gelgaudai, Vytėnai), Raudonė and Raudondvaris residential castles, however, they are only partly integrated into the local social structure. When forming landscape the sites of the former Crusader castles on the Nemunas riverbank, namely Seredžius II (Palocėliai, the supposed site of Dubysenburg) and Dubysa II (Pilaitė) are insufficiently respected. The expressiveness of medieval defensive structures and the spatial interaction of their remains create in the study territory an important but yet unusable potential of mental landscape