Ringovė mound is otherwise called Pilike or the Merry Hill. Situated in the Ringovė ethnological reserve, on the right cape of the Nemunas bank and shaped by ravines of the Ringovė and Krestinava brooks, this mound is a significant monument of Lithuanian fights against the Crusaders. A wooden Ringė castle mentioned in the ancient chronicles of 1364 used to stand on it.
For defence purposes our ancestors cut off the cape from the plateau by a mound and a wooden barrier on it. A wooden tower stood on the main mound; the yard area was surrounded by a defence wall. Below, builders formed a terrace on which the second wooden defence wall was built. From the side of the valley the castle was also protected by steep slopes 20–30 m high.
Each year during festivals, a pagan fire is ignited in the altar on the top of the mound. On its slope, a white “Fatherland’s Angel” with Gediminas pillars on its chest is set up. In the observation deck installed on the top, community events, also readings of the Poetry Spring festival are held.
