VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
62 what to see<br />
Europos Parkas<br />
Europos Parkas (Open Air Museum of the<br />
Centre of Europe) Joneikiškės, 10km north<br />
of Vilnius, tel. (+370) 5 237 70 77, www.europosparkas.lt.<br />
Founded in 1991 by the Lithuanian<br />
sculptor Gintaras Karosas, this wildly different and<br />
recommended countryside excursion brings together<br />
a number of names in local and international sculpture<br />
including Karosas himself, the Polish artist Magdalena<br />
Abakanowicz as well as Dennis Oppenheim and the late<br />
Sol Le-Witt from the United States to create a vision<br />
that in the words of the park’s founder ‘…give[s] an<br />
artistic significance to the geographic centre of the<br />
European continent…’. Featuring close on 100 works<br />
by artists from countries as diverse as Armenia, Japan<br />
and Venezuela, the park is spread out over 55 hectares<br />
of rolling hills and woodland and includes static and<br />
interactive art as well as the now infamous <strong>In</strong>fo Tree,<br />
Karosas’ crumbling shrine to propaganda made up<br />
of some 3,000 televisions with a prostrate Lenin at<br />
its centre. With the addition of a restaurant and gift<br />
shop, the park offers a splendid few hours away from<br />
the city for people of all ages. To get there by car,<br />
take Kalvarijų north to the Santariškės roundabout,<br />
turn right towards the Green Lakes (Žalieji Ežerai) and<br />
follow the signs. Buses leave from the Žalgirio stop on<br />
Kalvarijų, including a minibus to Skirgiškės which goes<br />
all the way to the park itself. Alternatively, bus N°36<br />
goes part of the way there but requires the last couple<br />
of kilometres to be made on foot. Q Open 10:00 - two<br />
hours before sunset. Admission 25/11Lt.<br />
Dennis Oppenheim. Drinking Structure with exposed<br />
Kidney Pool<br />
throughout the Soviet occupation. Watch closely as people<br />
walking underneath say a silent prayer. The chapel is open<br />
to the public and is accessed via a small door on the left as<br />
you’re walking up the hill. Q Mass 07:30 (Latin), 09:00, 10:00<br />
(Polish), 17:30 (Polish), 18:30, Sun 09:00 (Polish), 09:30,<br />
11:00, 13:00 (Polish), 17:30 (Polish), 18:30. J<br />
Green Bridge (Žaliasis Tiltas) H-3. A bridge of one<br />
description or another has stood on the spot of the Green<br />
Bridge since 1536. The current 103-metre metal construction<br />
dates from 1952 and was originally named after a Red Army<br />
general. The four groups of extraordinary sculptures at each<br />
corner represent agriculture (3.2m, sculptors B. Bučas and P.<br />
Vaivada), industry and construction (3.2m, sculptors N. Petrulis<br />
and B. Vyšniauskas), peace (4m, sculptor B. Pundzius) and that<br />
old Soviet chestnut, youth (3.2m, sculptors J. Mikėnas and J.<br />
Kėdainis). One of a few examples of blatantly Soviet art still in<br />
a public place, the Socialist Realist masterpieces have evaded<br />
removal on the grounds that they represent no real people living<br />
or dead. Criminally rusting and falling apart, something needs<br />
to be done to ensure that they stay around for many years to<br />
come. Meanwhile, underneath the bridge can be found Kunotas<br />
Vildžiūnas’ contemporary work Grandinė (Chain). Yawn.<br />
Hill of Three Crosses (Trijų Kryžių Kalnas) I-3.<br />
Legend has it that long ago seven Franciscan monks were<br />
crucified here. Originally erected in the 17th century, Stalin had<br />
the crosses removed and buried, and only in 1989 were they<br />
rebuilt according to the original plans. The crosses are a great<br />
symbol of both Lithuanian mourning and hope. An excellent<br />
view of Old Town is also to be found at this spot.<br />
Kenesa F-3, Liubarto 6. The Lithuanian Karaite or Karaim are<br />
the smallest ethnic historical community in Vilnius, with just 150<br />
or so remaining members of a people who settled in the region in<br />
the 14th century. The Karaite, from whom they get their name, are<br />
a Jewish sect who can be traced back to Mesopotamia (modern<br />
day Iraq) who adhere to the Old Testament and the Decalogue,<br />
but don’t accept the Talmud. The Lithuanian Karaite were<br />
originally Tatars living on the Black Sea, almost certainly Muslim<br />
and who were converted to the Karaite faith in the 13th century.<br />
Enigmatic and as yet not properly understood, the Lithuanian<br />
Karaite, who number less than 500 nationwide, are on the edge<br />
of extinction. During the Soviet occupation, their Moorish-looking<br />
kenesa, built in 1922, was closed and made into a warehouse.<br />
Like the country’s other remaining kenesa in Trakai, the building<br />
is almost always locked.<br />
Literatų Gatvė C-2/3, Literatų. <strong>In</strong>spired by Aidas<br />
Marčėnas’s poem Literatų Gatvė about a wistful young man<br />
drinking and smoking with his friends on the street of the same<br />
name, the highly recommended permanent outdoor gallery on<br />
Literatų is dedicated to writers past and present who’ve all<br />
left their mark on the city. Comprised of small, mixed-media<br />
prints, drawings and paintings celebrating everyone from<br />
Jonas Mekas to Czesław Miłosz to Romain Gary, the gallery,<br />
all the work of local artists, grew from humble beginnings in<br />
2008 and now features over 100 superb pieces.<br />
M. K. Čiurlionis’ House (M. K. Čiurlionio Namai)<br />
C-4, Savičiaus 11, tel. (+370) 5 262 24 51. Although more<br />
famous for his painting, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis<br />
(1875-1911) has quite a reputation as a composer. This is<br />
the house in which the great man lived for a short time in<br />
a small room that can be visited. The rest of the building,<br />
which during Čiurlionis’ time was both a family house and<br />
a shop, features reproductions of his paintings and a small<br />
concert space which stages musical productions almost<br />
every Wednesday evening. QOpen 10:00 - 17:00. Closed<br />
Sat, Sun. Admission free. J<br />
Vilnius <strong>In</strong> <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> vilnius.inyourpocket.com