VILNIUS - In Your Pocket

it of a character to say the least. Clumsy in his personal affairs
and switching from paganism to Catholicism and back
to paganism to suit his needs, Mindaugas was eventually
assassinated by his nephew and served as little more than
a footnote in Lithuanian history until he was resurrected by
the national revival movement of the late 19th century. R.
Midvikis’ granite likeness of the man sees him sitting on his
sostas (throne), from which the Lithuanian language gets
its word for capital, sostinė, literally ‘the place where the
throne is’. J
Užupis Angel D-3, Užupio. After a long and singularly
strange career as an oversized egg cup, the tall pillar in the
heart of Vilnius’ breakaway republic Užupis (where every
dog has the right to be a dog) finally gave birth to a long
awaited angel on April 1, 2002, the official independence
day of the wacky district. After a long and sometimes tedious
unveiling ceremony, the covers were finally lifted, and
in a big burst of billowing balloons the surprisingly beautiful
figure of an angel was revealed, playing a trumpet and
generally being rather awesome. The work of the Lithuanian
sculptor R. Vilčiauskas, find it at the junction of Užupio and
Malūnų. J
Žemaitė A-1, Gedimino 27-29. Born into an impoverished
Polish-speaking family with aristocratic roots and affectations,
as a child the Lithuanian novelist Žemaitė (real name Julija
Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė, 1845-1921) was forbidden to
speak Lithuanian, at the time the language of the common
people. Inquisitive and defiant, the young Žemaitė made
friends with local serfs and was soon fluent in her mother
tongue, the language in which she was eventually to write in.
Self taught and unusually political for a woman at the time,
Žemaitė’s sombre tales concentrate on issues surrounding
the miseries of peasant life and family squabbles, all written
in the local vernacular. Her statue, the work of the sculptor
Petras Aleksandravičius and architect brothers Algimantas
and Vytautas Nasvytis, was unveiled, somewhat strangely,
at the height of the Cold War in 1970.
Parks & Gardens
Although they like to flee en masse to the countryside during
the warmer part of the year, the good people of Vilnius
are also fond of spending time in the city’s many public
green spaces. Regardless of the fact that there’s very
little in the way of chaos to get away from, Vilnius’ parks
and gardens can still provide a welcome relief from the
immediate concerns of the 21st century. Here are some of
the highlights.
Kalnų Parkas D-1. Covering some 25 hectares immediately
northeast of Old Town at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia,
Kalnų Parkas (Hill Park) is a popular retreat for walks and, during
the summer, concerts on the park’s Soviet-era outdoor stage.
Also home to the Hill of Three Crosses (see Places of interest),
the area the park now occupies is shrouded in a number of
contentious mysteries. The so-called Gedimino Kapo Kalnas
(Gediminas’ Grave Hill) for example, one of the park’s four hills
and now a spiritual gathering ground for many followers of the
country’s pagan Romuva organisation, is supposedly the site
where the founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke
Gediminas (ca. 1275-1341) is buried. No such evidence exists
to support the claim however.
Vingio Parkas F-4. Situated to the west of the city along
the meandering Neris river, this wooded park covering 160
hectares of pine woods was famed as far back as the 16th
century. It’s believed that Alexander I was at a ball here when
he received news of Napoleon’s invasion in 1812, an event
vilnius.inyourpocket.com
what to see
mentioned in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. The park is more
famous these days as the setting for rock concerts, firework
displays, jogging and the launching of hot-air balloons during
balmy summer evenings. Also within its confines are a botanical
gardens and a fabulous little children’s zoo.
Cemeteries
Vilnius’ extraordinary cemeteries offer an often emotional
and always interesting journey through the rich tapestry
of races and cultures that built the city. For information on
the city’s two Jewish cemeteries, see Jewish Vilnius.
Antakalnis Cemetery (Antakalnio Kapinės) J/K-2,
Karių Kapų 11. Thought to have begun life as a cemetery way
back in 1809, the so-called Soldiers’ Cemetery (Karių Kapinės)
can be found in the forested area of Antakalnis a couple of
kilometres or so from Old Town. The Polish soldiers’ graveyard,
distinguished by undulating rows of identical headstones, lies
to the left of the entrance. Nearby stands a small collection of
Tartar graves complete with Islamic symbols. To the left and
deeper into the cemetery, large Soviet soldiers guard the (nolonger
burning) eternal flame. To the soldiers’ right is the ghastly
Soviet memorial encasing the graves of Soviet Lithuania’s
dignitaries. Take a hike up the stairs on your left to reach the
‘red star’ graves of Soviet soldiers who died fighting Lithuanian
partisans. Perhaps most poignant are the graves of the border
guards murdered by the Soviets at Medininkai on July 31, 1991
and the civilians killed by Soviet paratroopers during the January
1991 demonstrations, all guarded by a stunning Pietà. Still
in use, among the more notable recent additions are a large
patch of grass surrounded by a tiny concrete wall and containing
the remains of the Napoleonic soldiers discovered in the
city in 2002, and the final resting place of the often overlooked
Lithuanian composer Antanas Rekašius (1928-2003).
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