  We present a detailed temperature-dependent spectroscopic study of DyMnO3
single crystals with distorted perovskite structure. Energies of 36
crystal-field levels of Dy3+ in paramagnetic DyMnO3 were determined. The Dy3+
ground Kramers doublet does not split at T_N^Mn = 39 K and splits below Tlock =
18 K. The splitting grows fast at temperatures near T_N^Dy = 6.5 K and reaches
{\Delta}0 = 11 cm-1 at 4 K. Using the experimental temperature dependence
{\Delta}0(T), we calculate the dysprosium magnetic moment mDy(T) and the
dysprosium contribution into specific heat and magnetic susceptibility.
Analysing all the experimental data, we conclude that the Dy-Mn interaction is
of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya type.
