Further to my mission as Vilnius’ unofficial cultural and historical flaneur, today I explored a couple of other sights in the city to help (hopefully) bring about more concrete ideas about the Borders project. In fact, concrete was the very word today. Vilnius’ magnificent (or is it grotesque?) and crumbling Palace of Concerts and Sports (Koncertų ir Sporto Rūmai) is an extraordinary piece of Soviet Brutalist architecture, and a particularly poignant symbol of Lithuanian dominance of the region and its attempts at destroying everything racially different that went before it. Built in 1971, the Palace of Concerts and Sports occupies a large section of the city’s former Jewish Cemetery (see previous posts for more on the subject), which opened way back in 1487 and was closed some time in the middle of the 19th century, about 100 years before it was desecrated in the name of Socialism. The building also holds the honour of being the venue for the infamous Sąjūdis Conference, when the Lithuanian version of Solidarity among other things reintroduced the non-Soviet Lithuanian flag and gave the Cathedral back to the Roman Catholic Church. Interestingly, especially as the event was exactly 20 years ago (Sąjūdis I should mention were one of the major forces in helping destroy the USSR), no monument stands to mark the event. I did notice however that a new(ish) monument to the Jewish cemetery has been placed outside. Further along the Neris river to the northeast is the site of the soon-to-open Tuskulėnų Rimties Parkas (Tuskulėnai Peace Park)built on the grounds of the 19th-century Tuskulėnų Dvaras (Tuskulėnai Manor) which was taken over by the KGB at the end of WWII and in whose grounds the bodies of 766 Lithuanian victims of the Soviets were found a few years ago. The site is being turned into yet another symbol of Lithuanian suffering at the hands of the Soviets, which, especially when you remember that the Lithuanians and Soviets made a deal over Vilnius in 1944 that effectively cleansed the city of its majority Polish population (among them the photographer Jan Bułhak - see earlier post), does look rather stupid. It’s precisely this ridiculous version of Lithuanian history that’s inspiring me to work on a project that addresses something a little more along the lines of the truth. Anyway, I’m not here to hold a grudge or to get too involved emotionally, I’m merely interested in how the city really grew. I’m starting to see the project as it’s going to be. More of that later.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Concrete
Further to my mission as Vilnius’ unofficial cultural and historical flaneur, today I explored a couple of other sights in the city to help (hopefully) bring about more concrete ideas about the Borders project. In fact, concrete was the very word today. Vilnius’ magnificent (or is it grotesque?) and crumbling Palace of Concerts and Sports (Koncertų ir Sporto Rūmai) is an extraordinary piece of Soviet Brutalist architecture, and a particularly poignant symbol of Lithuanian dominance of the region and its attempts at destroying everything racially different that went before it. Built in 1971, the Palace of Concerts and Sports occupies a large section of the city’s former Jewish Cemetery (see previous posts for more on the subject), which opened way back in 1487 and was closed some time in the middle of the 19th century, about 100 years before it was desecrated in the name of Socialism. The building also holds the honour of being the venue for the infamous Sąjūdis Conference, when the Lithuanian version of Solidarity among other things reintroduced the non-Soviet Lithuanian flag and gave the Cathedral back to the Roman Catholic Church. Interestingly, especially as the event was exactly 20 years ago (Sąjūdis I should mention were one of the major forces in helping destroy the USSR), no monument stands to mark the event. I did notice however that a new(ish) monument to the Jewish cemetery has been placed outside. Further along the Neris river to the northeast is the site of the soon-to-open Tuskulėnų Rimties Parkas (Tuskulėnai Peace Park)built on the grounds of the 19th-century Tuskulėnų Dvaras (Tuskulėnai Manor) which was taken over by the KGB at the end of WWII and in whose grounds the bodies of 766 Lithuanian victims of the Soviets were found a few years ago. The site is being turned into yet another symbol of Lithuanian suffering at the hands of the Soviets, which, especially when you remember that the Lithuanians and Soviets made a deal over Vilnius in 1944 that effectively cleansed the city of its majority Polish population (among them the photographer Jan Bułhak - see earlier post), does look rather stupid. It’s precisely this ridiculous version of Lithuanian history that’s inspiring me to work on a project that addresses something a little more along the lines of the truth. Anyway, I’m not here to hold a grudge or to get too involved emotionally, I’m merely interested in how the city really grew. I’m starting to see the project as it’s going to be. More of that later.
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