Ventė Cape ( lt, Ventės ragas, german: Windenburger Eck), sometimes referred to as Ventė Horn or Ventė Peninsula, is a headland in the

Nemunas Delta Nemunas Delta is the Lithuanian name for the Neman (Nemunas) River Delta, in Lithuania. Prior to post-World War II border changes, it was known in German as the ''Memel Niederung'', as the Neman was for centuries called the Memel in German. When ...

, in Šilutė district, Lithuania. It is known as a resting place for birds during their

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

, particularly in autumn. Ventė Cape Ornithological Station – one of the first bird ringing stations in Europe still in operation – was opened here by

Tadas Ivanauskas Tadas Ivanauskas (December 16, 1882 – June 1, 1970) was a Lithuanian zoologist and biologist, and one of the founders of Vytautas Magnus University. Biography He was born in Lebiodka Manor (today in Belarus) as a third child of Leonard Iwanowsk ...

in 1929. The Cape, being in the former

Memel Territory Memel, a name derived from the Couronian-Latvian ''memelis, mimelis, mēms'' for "mute, silent", may refer to: *Memel, East Prussia, Germany, now Klaipėda, Lithuania **Memelburg, ( Klaipėda Castle), the ''Ordensburg'' in Memel, a castle built in ...

, was part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

until 1919. The

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

erected a castle here, called Windenburg, but it no longer exists. There is an 11-metre-high lighthouse, built in 1863 during the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n period, though it is not currently in use.

External links

Headlands of Lithuania Birdwatching sites {{Lithuania-geo-stub