After Lithuania restored its independence in 1990, there have been severe discussions about the Soviet relics (industrial sites, buildings, etc.): should they be destroyed or preserved, ignored or demonstrated… During the sixteen years since, many of them were tumbled down, many were lost, but some seem to be really successful.
Part of the socialist heritage has found accommodation in the Grutas Park – a Soviet sculpture park in Druskininkai, about 130 km southwest of Vilnius. Hosting a number of stone champions of communism, the park is often called Stalin’s World.
When more than a decade ago these statues were dismantled and dumped or piled is storehouses and backyards, Viliumas Malinauskas, the founder and the owner of the park (also engaged in mushroom and berry business), asked the Lithuanian authorities for the permission to have the sculptures collected, so that he could establish a privately-financed museum.
The Grutas Park is situated in the forested territory of Dzukija National Park. Visitors are invited to take a walk in surroundings reminiscent of life in exile in Siberia, featuring elements of the Soviet Gulag prison camps: camp barracks, fences, watchtowers, wooden paths, and heroic Soviet songs coming from the loudspeakers. Rich in irony, the exhibition is meant to amuse as well as to inform. However, it reawakens the painful past, and some people don’t like the idea of such a park at all. At the beginning, the idea provoked severe opposition and it is still controversial.
Organized into several spheres, the statue exposition displays 86 statues. Each has an information stand giving a short historical overview. With an exception to the statue of Karl Marx, all of them portray people who personally took part in the occupation of Lithuania.
The museum exposition is a model of a Soviet culture house. Soviet culture houses used to offer exhibitions, films and amateur art activities. The museum exhibits authentic examples of the Soviet propaganda: books, photos, newspapers, posters, badges, etc.
The park also features Soviet style playground, a mini-zoo and a café whose menu includes small herrings with onions, brown rectangular bread, vodka, etc.
Occasionally, following the Soviet manner, amusing Soviet festivals and events are enacted.
Since 2001 when the park was first opened, it has attracted a lot of tourists from all over the country and abroad. With nearly 300.000 visitors per year, it is today one the most popular tourist destinations in Lithuania.
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