Vilnius reconsiders future of Green Bridge Soviet sculptures

Vilnius Municipality is once again looking for a location for four Soviet-era sculptures removed from the Green Bridge more than a decade ago, after the Lithuanian National Museum abandoned plans to take them over, LRT reported, citing BNS.

“The museum is refusing to accept the sculptures because it has nowhere to store them and lacks funds for their restoration,” Kamilė Gogelienė, chair of the Vilnius City Council’s Historical Memory Commission, told BNS. “The sculptures remain under the municipality’s responsibility for now, and we will try to find a place for them.”

The four socialist realist sculpture groups depict soldiers, workers, peasants and students. They were removed from the bridge in central Vilnius in 2015 because of their ideological content and the need for restoration.

In June 2021, the municipality announced that it would transfer the sculptures to the Lithuanian National Museum. The museum planned to display them at a branch that had recently opened in a former detention facility.

Giedrė Milerytė-Japertienė, the museum’s deputy director for research and outreach, confirmed this week that the institution had decided not to take over the sculptures. She said the museum had been unable to resolve ownership issues or secure funding for their restoration and future maintenance.

The sculptures are classified as long-term municipal property, meaning a government decision would have been required for the museum to take ownership. No such decision was adopted.

The municipality later proposed transferring the sculptures to the museum under a 20-year loan arrangement, with the possibility of extending the term. However, this would have required the museum to cover substantial storage, restoration and exhibition costs.

After assessing the sculptures’ condition and preparing a restoration plan, the museum estimated that at least 500,000 euros would be needed. The museum did not have the funds, and additional financing was not allocated, despite a project proposal submitted to the Culture Ministry, Milerytė-Japertienė said.

Vilnius’ municipal administration has proposed transferring the sculptures to Grūto Park, a park in Druskininkai Municipality that displays other removed sculptures of Soviet-period figures. However, the Historical Memory Commission decided to consider other options as well.

Gogelienė said the decision would depend on whether the sculptures were to be kept in storage or displayed temporarily, on special occasions or in another format. One possible option would be to transfer them to a municipally owned museum, such as the Vilnius Museum.

She also questioned whether the municipality would invest in the full restoration originally planned by the National Museum, saying it might be more practical to carry out only essential repairs.

The commission is expected to submit its proposals to the Vilnius City Council in the autumn. The council will make the final decision.