Grūtas park

The park Grūtas is a museum of outdoor presenting a collection of statues and another objects emblematic of the Soviet era. It was founded in 2001 by the contractor and former fighter Viliumas Malinauskas , close to the town of Druskininkai to approximately 130 km in the south-west of Vilnius.

When Lithuania reached independence in 1990, these statues were stored in various places. Malinauskas required of the Lithuanian government to give its sculptures to him in order to create a private museum.

This park with Soviet topic is located within the National park of Dzūkija. In addition to the statues it also presents reconstitutions of the Soviet universes concentrationnaire goulags: hutments, watchtower and barbed wires. The exposure while being before very informative tries to keep a point of irony and humor. However the subject even of the park returns in a tragic page of the history of the country. Its creation involved a rather strong opposition. Today still, its existence remains discussed.

The park proposes also a plain of play for children, a mini zoo and coffees. All these lieus is strewn with relics of the Soviet era.

Exposure

Contrary to the largely spread belief, this statue of Lenine was not damaged by crowd in joy during the fall of Communism. More prosaically the damage was caused by the crane used during its removal with Vilnius.

The exposure is organized around five spheres. A panel with short a description characters represented is affixed on all the statues. Except for Karl Marx, all represent women and men having personally taken part in the occupation of Lithuania. In all, the exposure presents 86 statues, of 46 different sculptors.

The totalitarian sphere

The sphere of terror

  • Felix Dzerzhinsky, the organizer of terror during the Russian revolution
  • M.Kozlovsky
  • Zigmas Aleksa-Angarietis, one of the founder of the communist part of Lithuania
  • Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas, an organizer of red Terror in Lithuania
  • Pranas Eidukevičius, founder of the part of the Lithuanian workers social-democrat and belarusse Social, which later became the communist part Lithuanian and Russian
  • Vytautas Putna, lieutenant ( comcor ) in the Soviet military Red Army and diplomatic
  • Jeronimas Uborevičius, general ( comandarm ) in the Red Army
  • Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis, general in the Red Army, it took part in the occupation of Lithuania in 1940

The Soviet sphere

Introduce characters having fought against the independence of Lithuania in 1918 - 1919:
  • Karolis Požėla
  • Juozas Greifenberger
  • Kazys Giedrys
  • Rapolas Čarnas
  • E. Tučkus
  • B. Grikas
  • V. Rekašius

The Red sphere

Be ironical about the ideal of the Résistant Soviet

  • Marytė Melnikaitė - resistant Soviet

  • other resistant

The sphere of the occupation

Various characters having taken part in the occupation by organizing terror.

The sphere of death

Organizers and chiefs of various militia and organizations anti-nationalist.

Anecdotes

  • the Grūtas park and its founder Viliumas Malinauskas gained in 2001 the price Ig Noble of peace.
  • a conflict opposes since January 2007 the park and the Lithuanian association of the royalty. This last request that the park pays the rights to the seven Lithuanian artists who carved some of the statues

See too

External bonds

  • Official site of the park
  • Estonian Museum of the occupation
  • Latvian Museum of the occupation
  • Museum similar to Budapest

Random links:Saburo Teshigawara | Championship of Croatia of football | Mariusz Siudek | Michel Hébert (magistrate) | Place Loubianka | Tambour_électronique