Visaginas renames Soviet-era street after years of legal disputes

The municipal council of Visaginas has renamed Tarybų (Soviet) Street to Atgimimo (Rebirth) Alley following a prolonged legal battle, public broadcaster LRT reports.

In Thursday’s vote, 24 council members supported the change, with one abstention. The decision follows a binding ruling by Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court in July 2025, which ordered the removal of the street name for its association with totalitarian regimes.

Lukas Banys, the municipality’s chief architect, told the council the renaming was required by court judgments and a directive from Lithuania’s Genocide and Resistance Research Centre. He noted that public consultations drew around 400 participants.

The street’s technical status will also change from a road to a pedestrian alley, reflecting its original design as a car-free axis in the town’s layout.

Visaginas had previously resisted the change, appealing to the Constitutional Court in 2023 after the research centre first demanded the name’s removal. The Constitutional Court declined to review the case, and lower courts upheld the order to rename the street.

Lithuania’s 2023 law banning symbols of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes requires the removal of such references from public spaces, including street names.