They are four sculptures that bring a nostalgic dollop of socialist realism to the heart of an EU capital: on the Green Bridge over the Neris river in Vilnius the approaches are dominated by monuments to heroic Soviet archetypes: soldiers, workers, farmers and students.

But for how much longer? Plans to remove the badly corroded monoliths for repairs are proving highly controversial in Lithuania, particularly among the Russian-speaking minority.



The newly elected mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius, has insisted that the sculptures will be taken away, probably by the end of July, for repairs. But rumours abound that once removed, they will never be returned.

The sensitive cultural situation has echoes of a similar case in Estonia eight years ago, when the Tallinn authorities relocated a monument to the Red Army commonly known as the Bronze Soldier. The decision resulted in two nights of riots and a siege of the Estonian embassy in Moscow.

People walk past a statue depicting Soviet workers on the Green Bridge in Vilnius. Photograph: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

“We are not preparing for the Bronze Soldier scenario,” said Gintautas Paluckas, deputy mayor of Vilnius. “The Russians in Vilnius aren’t like those of Estonia or Latvia, and the sculptures’ symbolical value is not as big as that of the Bronze Soldier. However, provocations are likely to happen.”

The four sculptures, depicting Soviet soldiers, workers, students and collectivised farmers, were erected during the Soviet occupation, in 1952. The biggest controversy surrounds the monument to the Red Army, a sculpture of two Soviet soldiers called On the Guard of Peace.

Each of the four sculptures weighs several tons and they are all corroded, so Paluckas is sure that their removal is not going to be a quick task. “It’s not an hour’s work.”

Larisa Dmitriyeva, a member of the Lithuanian parliament and one of the leaders of the Lithuanian Union of Russians, an ethnicity-based political party, is categorically against the removal of the four sculptures. She thinks the sculptures should serve as a reminder of the country’s past.

“I really don’t like this idea. The decision is absolutely populist. This is our history and there’s no way we can change it,” Dmitriyeva said.

She accuses the new administration of Vilnius of acting in a Bolshevik manner. “It is sad that our Lithuanian artists’ pieces will now be removed just because some political decision has been made. Fighting metal or stone is an act of ignorance. If we follow such logic, our supreme court’s building has to be demolished as well. You know, it’s a Bolshevik kind of attitude: demolish everything,” she said.

After Lithuania restored its independence, most of the Soviet sculptures were removed and demolished. Some of the sculptures that remained intact were later collected and moved to the Grutas sculpture park near Druskininkai, where a local businessman, Viliumas Malinauskas, made a tourist attraction out of the monuments. His idea was awarded an Ig Nobel peace prize in 2001.