Stalininis „penkmetis“: Vilniaus viešųjų erdvių įprasminimo darbai 1947–1952 m.
Five years of Stalin’s rule: signification of Vilnius public spaces in 1947–1952

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the history of Vilnius public spaces during early years of the Soviet occupation. The author tries to find out how and why the face of the city was recreated: who made decisions and who did designs, which methods and why were chosen to build the Soviet Vilnius. Answers to these questions are sought by critical analysis of archival documents, newspapers of the time, memoirs of the contemporaries and recent publications on art and politics. Although Vilnius was declared to be the capital of Lithuania right after the latter was announced a Soviet Republic in July 1940, the war and its aftermaths did not allow any substantial development until 1947. The five years between 1947 and 1952 can be called the first stage of Vilnius’ sovietization. During this period, next to changes made to the symbolic space of the city (new street names, changed purposes of buildings), the general Vilnius development plan was prepared and the new city center made of two main transportation arteries was formed. The first artery – Gediminas (later Stalin and still later Lenin) avenue – was marked by the monument of the Soviet general Ivan Chernyakhovsky on the present Kudirkos Square in 1950 and the Lenin monument on the Lukiškių Square in 1952. The second artery, going from the railway station to the Kalvarijų market, was supplied with a new railway station building and Stalin’s monument in front of it in 1950 and the four decorative sculptural groups on the Green (Žaliasis) Bridge in 1952. The main landmarks for the Soviet signification of Vilnius were set in two documents: Lenin’s Monumental Propaganda Plan (1918) and Stalin’s General Plan for Reconstruction of Moscow (1935). The ambitious tasks of the two programs, the lack of practice in the social realist style among local artists and architects, as well as shortage of ideologically reliable professionals were the reasons for inviting artists and architects from Russia to Vilnius. The team of the after-war Vilnius developers was formed of urban architects who came to Vilnius from Leningrad and a sculptor, five times Stalin Award winner from Moscow Nikolai Tomsky. The latter was the author of all the three above mentioned monuments. Meanwhile, Lithuanian sculptors could show their abilities only on the sculptural decorations of the Green Bridge. To put it in other words, imported ideology was spread with the help of imported art and by the hands of imported artists. All monuments built in Vilnius served the sole purpose of propaganda. They demonstrated the place Lithuania occupied in the Soviet hierarchy system, depicted Soviet ideology and attempted to rewrite Lithuanian history. The legibility of these signs of power was facilitated by using uniform means of expression (multiplied statues, iconic resemblance and typical images of heroes) and inscriptions in the Lithuanian language. All this had to ensure that inhabitants of the new Soviet capital city will understand the new ideological signs in the same – right – way. However, not all Vilnius development plans were materialized: a monumental ensemble embracing the Victory memorial on the Tauro Hill and the Palace of Soviets on the Lukiškių Square, as well as a number of other propaganda projects remained on paper. Thanks to the unstable after-war economic and political situation, the minor role Lithuania played in the political and economic life of the Soviet Union, and the malfunctions of the propaganda mechanism, the public spaces of Vilnius avoided radical changes and major sovietization.

• Details
• Contents