Churlenis Nikolay Konstantinovich (Mikalojus Konstantinas) 
(22.09.1875-10.04.1911)

Lithuanian artist and composer; ancestor of professional Lithuanian music, who overstepped the boundaries of national culture with his creative work. 
Born in the town of Varena, he spent his childhood in Druskininkai, where his father was an organist. Churlionis' professional musical career began in the music school and orchestra of Prince M. Oginsky in Plunge. He studied music at the Warsaw Music Institute and the Leipzig Conservatory. 
Churlionis is the author of the first Lithuanian symphonic poems “In the Forest” and “Sea”, overtures “Kestutis”, cantatas for choir and symphony orchestra, string quartet, works for choir for texts of psalms. He recorded and processed over 60 Lithuanian folk songs, composed over 200 pieces for piano. In 1908 in Vilnius, he led the choir, and spent part of the time in Druskininkai and Palanga. 
Churlenis studied painting at the J. Kauzik drawing school and art school from K. Stabrowski in Warsaw. In 1905 in Warsaw, he first exhibited his work. In 1906, his works were exhibited at the exhibition of students of the Warsaw Art School in St. Petersburg. Čiurlionis was one of the initiators and participants of the first Lithuanian art exhibition in Vilnius in 1907. In the autumn of 1908 in St. Petersburg with the assistance of  M.V. Dobuzhinsky he entered the circle of artists who later formed the association "World of Art". 
Churlenis wrote about 300 paintings, combining the influence of symbolism with elements of folk decorative and applied art, quotations and reminiscences from Japanese, Egyptian, and Indian cultures. The most famous of them are the triptych "Fairy Tale", the cycles "Fairy Tale of Kings", "Creation of the World", "Signs of the Zodiac", "Spring", "Winter", "Zemaysky Crosses", the painting "Great Peace". The works of Čhurlionis are kept in the Kaunas Art Museum named after him.

Churlenis shared the fate of many great talents: the glory was late. He died of severe nervous illness in a sanatorium near Warsaw, young and almost unrecognized during his lifetime. The news of the death of Churlionis for the first time discovered that his art has affected many. Within two to three years after his death, large exhibitions of his works were held in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vilnius, his paintings were exhibited at the Second International Post-Impressionists Exhibition in London, his music was played in concerts, serious articles were written about him, the first book and Churlionis monographic collection. 
He was buried in Vilnius at the Ross cemetery (Race). 
Mountain and ice dome (Churlyanis) on Hooker Island in the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. The mountain was named in 1912  by N.V. Pinegin. The dome is named later on the mountain.