Grutas Park

To destroy or to preserve: that was the question when the Soviet Union dissolved, and the statues of Soviet leaders were displaced from town squares all over the country. “History is not good or bad – history is history!”, says Viliumas Malinauskas, the owner of the park, somewhat indignant at the suggestion that a park collecting the discarded statues of Soviet icons may be in questionable taste.
Opened in 2001, Grutas Park is now one of Lithuania’s top tourist destinations, with over 200,000 visitors per year. It is a unique 20 ha out-door exposition of Soviet relics. Featuring an exhibition of 86 Soviet statues in concentration-camp style surroundings, a lecture theatre with a library display, and a picture gallery, the park shows and denounces the Soviet propaganda culture, the idealised communist society, and the cult of the Soviet ‘heroes’: Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev and others. The park also has a café where you can check out a Soviet menu including ‘Proshchai molodost’ (‘Goodbye Youth’) cutlet and ‘Nostalgia’ bortsch. Young visitors are kept busy as well. Children can enjoy the swings at the playground (the Soviet times Luna Park) and find it interesting to imagine what kind of games their parents and grandparents used to play…

Come to Grutas Park and see where the Soviet stuff has gone.

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