ARCHITECTURE + AIRBORNE European Travels: LITHUANIA [hill of crosses, kaunas + vilnius]

May 24-25
We flew into Vilnius but headed straight to Riga with only a slight detour to the Hill of Crosses. The hill was about two and a half hours from Vilnius and about two hours from Riga, but it was a nice detour along the way.

There were endless rapeseed fields in bloom along our drive through Lithuania and Latvia. It made the scenery very colorful!

The Hill of Crosses [below]
According to the story, crosses started to appear on the hill after the suppression of the 1831 uprising against Tsarist Russian rule. Hundreds were located on the hill by the time the Soviets came in in 1940. This atheist regime did not like the religious symbol so they destroyed it in 1961. The crosses started to reappear and it was bulldozed in 1973 and 1975. This did not deter people. Crosses kept appearing and it was left alone. Pope John Paul II visited the hill in 1993. It now has about 100,000 crosses from all over the world

From there we spent two nights in Riga and then headed back to Lithuania. Our first stop was Kaunas.

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania. The history of the city has been rough, with invasions of the Russians, Swedes and Napoleon's Grand Army. It later suffered under Nazi and Soviet occupations. The Largest mass murder of Lithuanian Jews occurred on October 29, 1941 in Kaunas and is known as the 'Great Action'. 2,007 Jewish men, 2,920 women and 4,273 children were murdered in a single day at the Ninth Fort.

Today it is a city filled with many restaurants, cafes, museums and activity. We happened to arrive when they were having their Kauno Hanzos Dienos festival [Kaunas Hanseatic Days], full of market stalls, horses, archery, cannons, traditional singers and games.

Vilniaus Gatve

Children playing traditional music

Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul - Gothic and
Renaissance exterior but Baroque interior

Main Square

Old Town Hall aka 'White Swan'

Kauno Hanzos Dienos

Kauno Hanzos Dienos with the castle ruins

Kauno Hanzos Dienos

Perkunas House

Vytautas Church

Laisves Avenue

Church of St. Michael

Zalgirio arena

Kaunas firehouse

Vilnius [below]
Vilnius is a city that is easy to fall in love with. The Old Town is one of the largest in Europe, but it is still easy enough to explore by foot. It blends Gothic, Renaissance, Classical and Baroque styles. It became the capital of Lithuania in 1990 but it was not until August of 1991 the Moscow recognized Lithuania as an independent country.

Town Hall Square was repaved in 2006, but prior to that it was used as a market and the center of public life. The main building is the Town Hall. It was originally the location of the court, where prisoners were taken from their cells and beheaded.

Town Hall

Town Hall Square

Church of Saint Casimir - used as the
museum of Atheism from 1963 - 1991.

The Basilian Gate

The Basilian Monastery

Church of St. Theresa

The frescoes were painted in the late
18th century [inside Church of St. Theresa]

Gates of Dawn - the gate is home to a
silver-covered painting of the Virgin Mary,
which is said to have miraculous powers.

Sv Kazimiero Street

Užupis

The Republic of Užupis began in 1995 when a group of Lithuanian artists and intellectuals built a statue of Frank Zappa in the city. Two years later the area declared itself an independent republic with a 12 man army. Four national flags were designed and a constitution was drawn up and 20 years later Uz has yet to be invaded.

'The story of Užupis is a bizarre, yet strangely encouraging tale of what can happen when a bunch of eccentrics are left to their own devices. When Lithuania broke free of the Soviet Union, Lenin’s statues were torn down and a lot of plinths were left empty. At a time when the country was trying to rediscover its national identity and escape the shadow of communism, local photographer and civil servant Saulius Paukstys spotted an opportunity. ‘We were desperate to find a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn't always doom and gloom,’ Paukstys recalled in an interview with the Guardian in 2000. He chose Frank Zappa's work to accomplish this and began to collect signatures and, despite Zappa’s total irrelevance to Lithuania, people got behind the idea and gave a huge show of support to the bemused authorities. It may have been the absurdity of the proposition that struck a chord with the artistic community.' [1]

Užupis had been an independent Republic ever since and now holds feasts, fireworks and art exhibitions. Even the current mayor of Vilnius supports the Republic and joins in on their events. I enjoyed reading their constitution!

"A dog has the right to be a dog."

Back to Old Town…

Adam Mickiewicz statue - Polish poet

Bernardine Church

Church of St. Anne

Vilnius Cathedral [below]

It was first built in 1251 as a Christian Church where a pagan temple once stood. The building that stands there today dates back to mainly the 18th century. It was closed by the soviets in 1950 and used as a garage for truck repairs. It was reopened as a catholic church and reconsecrated a year before independence was declared.