Grūtas Park (; also unofficially known as Stalin's World) is a socialist realism museum with a

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...

Soviet-era statues Soviet-era statues are statuary art that figured prominently in the art of the Soviet Union. Typically made in the style of Socialist Realism, they frequently depicted significant state and party leaders, such as Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. ...

and other Soviet ideological relics from the times of the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...

. Founded in 2001 by a local businessman Viliumas Malinauskas, the park is located near

Druskininkai Druskininkai (; also see other names) is a spa city on the Nemunas River in southern Lithuania, close to the borders of Belarus and Poland. The city of Druskininkai is known for being a spa resort since the 19th century. Name The exact origi ...

, about southwest of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The park requires an entrance fee.

History

After Lithuania restored its independence in 1990, the vast majority of the Soviet statues were taken down and dumped in different places. Malinauskas asked Lithuanian authorities to grant him possession of the sculptures, so that he could build a privately financed museum. This Soviet-theme park was created in the

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s of the

Dzūkija National Park __NOTOC__ Dzūkija National Park is a national park in Dzūkija, Lithuania, located 100 kilometers southwest from the capital, Vilnius, and 100 kilometers south from Kaunas. It was established on April 23, 1991 by the Supreme Court of the Republic ...

. Many of its features are re-creations of Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

prison camps: wooden paths, guard towers, and barbed-wire fences. Its establishment was controversial and faced considerable opposition at the time. Some ideas originally meant to be a part of the park were never allowed. Examples include transporting the visitors in a

-style train. Grūtas Park and its founder Malinauskas won the 2001 Ig Nobel Peace Prize. Since January 2007 the park has been in dispute with the Lithuanian copyright protection agency. The agency requires royalties to be paid to seven Lithuanian artists who created some of the statues. The park also contains playgrounds, a mini-zoo and cafes, all containing relics of the Soviet era. On special occasions actors stage re-enactments of various Soviet-sponsored festivals.

Exposition

The exposition, consisting of 86 statues by 46 different sculptors, is organized into spheres. Each of the statues features a Soviet or socialist activist, many of them ethnic Lithuanians. The Totalitarian Sphere features sculptures of the main Communist leaders and thinkers, including

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, and

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

. The Terror Sphere is dedicated to sculptures of founders of the

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

( Zigmas Aleksa-Angarietis,

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas Vincas Mickevičius, known under his pen name ''Kapsukas'' ( – 17 February 1935), was a Lithuanian Communism, communist political activist, Opinion journalism, publicist, and revolutionary. As an active member of the Lithuanian National Reviv ...

) and officers of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

(

Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis Feliksas Rafailovich Baltušis-Žemaitis (, November 30, 1897 – June 1, 1957) was a Lithuanian Red Army major general. He participated in World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Hamburg Uprising, and World War II. Baltušis-Žemaitis was ...

Ieronim Uborevich Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich (; ; – 12 June 1937) was a Soviet military commander of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, reaching the rank of komandarm in 1935. He was executed during the Great Purge in June 1937 and was posthumously ...

). It also has a sculpture of

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

, the organizer of the

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

. The Soviet Sphere includes sculptures of the four leaders of Lithuanian Communists, executed in the aftermath of the

1926 Lithuanian coup d'état The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état ( Lithuanian: ) was a military coup d'état in Lithuania that replaced the democratically elected government with a authoritarian regime led by Antanas Smetona. The coup took place on 17 December 1926 and wa ...

, and activists of the

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War () was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the larger Soviet westward offensiv ...

of 1918–1919. The Red Sphere is dedicated to

Soviet partisans Soviet partisans were members of Resistance during World War II, resistance movements that fought a Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war against Axis powers, Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Territories of Poland an ...

, including

Marytė Melnikaitė Marytė or Marija Melnikaitė (18 March 1923 – 13 July 1943) was a Soviet partisan and the only Lithuanians, Lithuanian woman awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. While her partisan career lasted less than two months, Soviet propaganda exaggerated ...

. The Occupation and Death Spheres showcase the brutal side the Soviet regime, including mass deportations and suppression of the

Lithuanian partisans Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in E ...

. The 20 hectares of the park area is reminiscent of severe

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

conditions with its guard towers, fragments of concentration camps and other elements of Soviet repression. According to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', "As countries grapple with their unsavoury pasts and consider the rightful place of their controversial monuments, the park offers an alternative model to museums or destruction."

References

External links

*
Official site of Grūtas Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grutas Park Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in Europe Museums in Alytus County 2001 establishments in Lithuania Art museums and galleries established in 2001 Art museums and galleries in Lithuania Druskininkai Municipality Open-air museums in Lithuania Monument cemeteries

History

Exposition

See also

References

External links