Encounters with Devils

Lithuania was the last country in Europe to be Christianised, and pagan beliefs are still prevalent here – including the notion that devils are an intrinsic part of life and have a wicked sense of humour. Get to the Baltic nation’s second city of Kaunas and head for the Devil's Museum in its centre. The former home of an eccentric collector, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, it houses 3,000 of the devilish sculptures and carvings he collected until his death, in 1966; another 1,000 have since been donated. One piece depicts Hitler and Stalin as demons in a dance of death over a helpless Lithuania, which would later become the first state to declare independence from Russia.