LITHUANIA-STATUES Last major Soviet statues come down in Lithuanian capital

Record ID: 146203

  • Title: LITHUANIA-STATUES Last major Soviet statues come down in Lithuanian capital
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (JULY 19, 2015) (REUTERS) GREEN BRIDGE VARIOUS OF "GUARDING PEACE" STATUE GREEN BRIDGE VARIOUS OF "INDUSTRY AND CONSTRUCTION" STATUE WORKER DRILLING WOMAN TAKING PICTURE ON PHONE VARIOUS OF "AGRICULTURE" STATUE (SOUNDBITE) (Lithuanian) PASSERBY, ANNA MAKOVSKA, SAYS: "I am very sad. I sometimes work as a guide, and I bring tourists to show them, because t
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lithuania
  • Country: Lithuania
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CJ1VJO5ZEJ5QINFA27ZT1P9X
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Workers started dismantling monumental statues of soldiers, students, labourers and farmers in Lithuania's capital early on Monday (July 20), the last major Soviet artworks in a city now on the eastern frontier of the European Union and NATO.
    Lithuania, together with other Baltic and east European states, has been on edge since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March last year and was accused of backing separatists in Ukraine's east.
    But city authorities said the now-aging statues - four pairs of people - were removed primarily for health and safety reasons, not politics, and the soldiers had gone first because they were the most dilapidated.
    On the streets of the capital, some passers-by were reluctant to see the sculptures go.
    "I am very sad. I sometimes work as a guide, and I bring tourists to show them, because this way I illustrate a part of our history to them. I have no regrets that the Soviet times are gone, but the statues are just evidence of our history. I am very sad, I wish that they would repair them and bring them back," one local, Anna Makovska, said.
    Others said they understood why authorities would be keen to rid the city of Soviet memorabilia.
    "I am not disturbed by the statues, but I understand perfectly that for some people it is hurtful to see them here. So if they decide to remove them, I would support this decision," passer-by Aiste Brackley said.
    Cranes began hauling them off plinths after midnight, a quarter century after the Baltic state re-emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union, a highly charged demolition job as Lithuania faces fresh tensions with its neighbour Russia.
    Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Simasius has said that he does not intend to use public money to bring the statues back.
    "I am happy for two reasons, actually. First reason and the main reason is because passengers are safe now, because according to the expertise we had to actually to close the pavement, during the strong wind, because it was too dangerous to pass by through the pavement and of course it was a big debate about principal and values, what statues are representing. And for me personally, I think, that the value which are represented by those statues are actually big lies about Soviet system, nothing more, just big lies," Simasius said.
    Overtly political statues of Lenin and other figures in Lithuania disappeared after the Soviet Union collapsed. Rock fans persuaded the city to build a monument to musician Frank Zappa instead - seeing his experimental work as a symbol of freedom after communism.
    But the four pairs of statues - erected in 1952, shortly after Soviet forces largely stamped out armed Lithuanian resistance against country's annexation - stayed in place on a central bridge. Locals say it was partly a mark of respect for the Lithuanian artists who carved them.
    Most of the other Soviet monuments have been moved to a political theme park, though the mayor said he had not decided what to do with the bridge monuments.
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