Alma: Some time ago, this university was called Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and the campus was built only around 1975.
*Alma: *Some time ago, this university was called Kaunas Polytechnic Institute and the campus was built only around 1975. Specific dorms were designated for students from specific faculties and they would not be mixed. Different floors were divided for ladies and gentlemen. The discipline was strict. There was a lot of stress for students, when at 8 in the morning, someone would come to see if they have left for the lectures, and whether some rascals stayed in and slept. A few of us would go: laboratory assistants, rector or superintendent and, of course, the correspondent. Back then, we did not know the word 'journalist'. The journalist was from the paper 'Tarybinis mokslas' (The Soviet Science). He would travel with some old camera, thrown over his shoulder. If he found someone sleeping, he would publish it in the paper immediately and the paper would travel around and be pinned on all notice boards in dorms and faculties. It is nice to remember what discipline it has been, when students would go to study wearing jackets, skirts, costumes and hats. Also, a lot of students would come from Latvia and Estonia. It is nice to notice the former students from Latvia still coming to see the dorm where they lived 20 or even 30 years ago. (2014)
Read moreArūnas: “I spent my childhood and youth in Kaunas.
*Arūnas*: “I spent my childhood and youth in Kaunas. I managed to find a few photos. It makes me happy that people captured in them are still alive and well. So are the lions. The first photo was taken in 1956. From the left: me, my cousin Vytautas, my cousin Laimutė and sister Rūta. The second one was taken in the spring of 1969. While studying in Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (KPI), we had a big beat band Meteorai and before a trip abroad, we decided to shoot our promo photos in the garden of the Museum of War which was dear and interesting for us. From the left: me, keyboard, drummer Antanas Mačys, guitar players and vocals Gerardas Balaišis and Jonas Toleikis. Some of them have not parted with music to this day. We all wanted to be the Beatles in those times. We were restless. So, I am sending you another photo, without lions, capturing the attempt to fire at the central office of KPI with one of the museum's cannons...” (2018)
Read moreAudronė: „Pradėjau lankyti devintą vidurinę Senamiestyje.
*Audronė*: „Pradėjau lankyti devintą vidurinę Senamiestyje. Paskui ją pervadino į Adomo Mickevičiaus, o dabar tai jau Jėzuitų gimnazija. Dabartinėje Jėzuitų bažnyčioje buvo sporto salė. Ilgai stovėjo nenaudojama, paskui padarė sporto salę. O vienuolyne buvo mokytojų seminarija, kol į Marijampolę neiškėlė. Ten mokėsi studentai. Paskui padarė proftechninę mokyklą. Kavinės nė vienos nebuvo. Dabar aplinkui – vien kavinės, restoranai. Buvo knygynas prie Jakšto gatvės, gyvenami namai, kuro parduotuvė, maisto produktų parduotuvė. /.../ Maironio muziejuje buvo žaidimų aikštelė ir paties Maironio sodas. Su daug agrastų. Nuraškydavom dar žalius...“ (2019)
Read moreAsija: “The most important place for me was the Sobor.
*Asija:* “The most important place for me was the Sobor. Pretty much all of the most significant memories were associated with this building. I remember when a whole bunch of children ran to the Sobor, as a neighbour from a nearby house was getting married there. It was my first encounter with Lithuanian traditions and with the God in the church. I remember when we ran up the stairs and saw the bride with a veil, long white bridal gown and a church decorated with flowers.
Read moreRobertas Antinis: Orbita was a superb club. It was special.
Read moreWhen I was sixteen, it was the first time, when I brought my photo camera to the Oakwoord Park, Darius and Girėnas Sports Centre, the Hall and the Stadium.
When I was sixteen, it was the first time, when I brought my photo camera to the Oakwoord Park, Darius and Girėnas Sports Centre, the Hall and the Stadium. It was during the World Lithuanian Games in the summer of 1991. I followed the participants marching from the Old Town. There were crowds of people, great mood, no mournful atmosphere. The second day of the Games was coloured in bright green: a boy who carried Detroit Kovas flag gave me five dollars for a photo that I handed him when we met. My first honorarium in cash! As my aunt Zita (currently living in Detroit) found out, his name was Tadas Baukys. The euphoria did not last long. Shots were fired at the Lithuanian boarder and the crowds moved to Vilnius: again, for a funereal.
Read moreEugenija: "I saw the graves of Darius and Girėnas in the institute.I was admitted to the medicine institute in 1945.
Eugenija: "I saw the graves of Darius and Girėnas in the institute. I was admitted to the medicine institute in 1945. As a student I was curious to see them. There was a chapel. In the chapel there were two graves. In the Soviet times. When the Germans came, the medicine institute got closed. Although some people were let to finish their year. At that time I was in my first year. I went there one day, the graves were no longer there. There’s a story to this. The faculty of the pharmaceutical chemistry was on the third floor. There were a lot of spirits there. German soldiers were put on duty near the institute. Because they thought that these were those graves. Darius and Girėnas were hit by Germans. In the faculty worked professor Šiaulis, he basically lived there, because he was a bachelor. I worked for him when I finished the institute. There also lived a man responsible for fires, Rauba. Professor Šiaulis along with Rauba invited the German soldiers, made them drink a ton of alcohol, gave them some ham and whilst the Germans were drunk the two men made a hole in a wall, put the two graves in it, and plastered the wall to finish it off. The graves had vanished. When the Russians came back, they built a mausoleum in the old cemetery." (2019)
Read moreGreta: To me, VMU equals study years.
*Greta:* To me, VMU equals study years. When I was still at school, I dreamed of studying in Vilnius, but VMU has been re-established for just several years, and it was so tempting, since it had a new study programme, and it was a completely new university without any Soviet traditions, full of promise that things here would be different, Western.:) During the admission, Liucija Baškauskaitė (!) spoke to me (besides entrance exams, there was also an interview about motivation). Later lectures were delivered by a famous anthropology professor Arvydas Žygas (whose then incomprehensible yet enchanting lectures I started attending while still at school). There was also now-legendary Gintaras Beresnevičius (there was a rumour about him that he feared audiences, because he seemed shy and confused), an English teacher from Los Angeles, Amanda, a strict Frenchwoman Miriam (both connected to Kaunas by temporary romantic ties) and many others. Now I think, that there has been this promise of freedom in the air, the feeling that I have been missing for all my years in school. Since the number of students was ten times smaller, everyone knew one another or at least had seen one another before. Lectures were attended by people of different specialities and courses, so you could feel like a part of the community. It is no wonder that if you meet a person today from these times, even though you have not interacted with him or her, you feel the sense of kinship and this can be confirmed by all graduates from the first years.
Read moreNeringa: In childhood, our parents would bring us to Vytauto Park.
*Neringa: *In childhood, our parents would bring us to Vytauto Park. Back then, the roofs of Orbita looked like the caps of amanita mushrooms. This carousel was perceived as big children entertainment. So, what was left for us? The slow-paced Saulutė. In my early memories, children's festivals would take place in the park; it was possible to buy cotton candy and ride a pony. When the travelling American amusement park arrived at Kaunas, my mother protested our desire to go there and pay more than needed for our screams and flashing lights, so she brought us to Vytauto Park. She said that we would stay here just for a little while. The silence in the park was sometimes disturbed by tiny cars driven by its visitors. Right then, five minutes in a ship turned into an hour full of the simple joy of wind, and nothing better could have happened at that moment. I feel so thankful for her incredible patience watching her daughters from the bench. I come back here every spring for more than five years. Every time, I bring some people for whom this is a discovery. Now in my memories I see carousels, big ones, lots of slow conversations, Lithuanian music playing on the summer stage on weekends, with old ladies wearing starched collars waiting for the dancing on the little stage. Vytauto Park can be described as a little universe with its own spirit. But its crown does not belong to the carousels, their ancient demeanour and wild atmosphere, but rather to Regina, the employee who oversees a part of the park. I remember her presence in this space all the time and cannot imagine it without her. Without her, it would be a simple attraction. She somehow fills the space. Even when she stopped dyeing her hair orange and started to ignore the greying effect of time, she remained just as energetic: painted ladybugs on carousels, and if she recognized us, she would reproach us (“Why do you come so late this year?”). Sometimes she would wink and let us ride Orbita free of charge. This once, when I brought a group of foreigners, she got excited and started telling about her youth, when once at night, at Kaunas Botanical Garden, she caught a glimpse of a blossom of a large-flowered cactus that blooms once a year, and the other time, she told us about the real tree of knowledge: something about a walnut tree growing nearby and squirrels. Things like this helps you understand that sharing is good. Only each time, you return to the park as an old, somewhat guilty acquaintance, but not a conspirator enough for this to last for a little bit longer. This photo is for Regina. I have always wanted to give her this. (2014)
Read moreBirutė: "It was a long time ago...When in 1955 I‘ve settled down in Kaunas together with my parents and saw the sculptures of lions in the Garden of the War Museum, I was so surprised.
*Birutė: *"It was a long time ago... When in 1955 I‘ve settled down in Kaunas together with my parents and saw the sculptures of lions in the Garden of the War Museum, I was so surprised. For me, a 12-year-old villager, it was so beautiful, so beautiful – that was the first time I saw sculptures. I stood in front of them and stared, stared... Then, I came closer, petted... and hugged, both, one after another. Probably somebody at that time could have been very surprised, maybe I did look foolish, but for me it was an unforgettable joy, which I still remember. It took me a while to go through my photo archive. But I‘ve found a small amateur photo, taken in 1958, where I am sitting on a lion. Why am I sitting there, who got me up, who took it? It was 60 years ago. Probably someone from my classmates. It used to be the place for our meetings, dates, walks. I'm sure the lions are still "alive" in my classmates' memories. The music of the bells, fully seated benches, and the children splashing in the fountain – all of it had remained in my memory. And the unforgettable garden of roses. I‘ve lived in Aleksotas for a really long time, at the First Julijanava. When we went to the city with my classmates, our route (we would save money for ice cream, movies...) most often would be: Veiveriai road, Aleksotas cemetery, Aleksotas funicular (students could use it for free), Aleksotas bridge, Town Hall, Vilnius or St. Gertrude Street... And the garden of the War Museum, museum, Lions used to be almost mandatory objects. Our walks around the "city", would usually end in Vytautas Park. Lions became a part of my life. I‘ve visited them during my youthful days, after marriage – with children and grandchildren. I would still visit and pet my lions nowadays. I've went through "Memory Places" - a wonderful idea. Thanks to the author. Almost all of those places have been visited, walked and dropped by... All the places are still "alive" in my memories. Kaunas has already become my city - walked, sensed, ever more loved. "MY" LIONS – are in Kaunas. Lions, have a happy upcoming Anniversary!” (2018)
Read moreKonstantinas: “My childhood passed here, about 80 years ago.
Konstantinas: “My childhood passed here, about 80 years ago. I was the youngest of three sons. My parents were farmers. I remember I had no one to hang out with. After elementary school, I got transferred to Išlaužas School. I used to walk about 10 kilometres every day. The horse was harnessed only in case of a snowstorm, but rarely. We would leave and return in the darkness. During the post-war period, we were moved outside the fence, behind that aerial field. We were forced to leave our house and moved into the homestead of deported people. I remember how German prisoners would build houses. We would run around construction with other kids. They had built aerials as well; made of copper, on a wooden pole. Germans had an orchestra of mixed instruments. There was a very good violinist. He conducted the orchestra. Soldiers and their families spoke and sang Russian and German. Soldiers had a huge house of culture; would screen movies there.” (2019)
Read moreLolita: "Gimiau ir augau Kauko alėjoje (kai gimiau, ji tuo metu dar vadinosi S.
*Lolita:* "Gimiau ir augau Kauko alėjoje (kai gimiau, ji tuo metu dar vadinosi S. Šimkaus alėja). Ąžuolynas yra vienas miesto miškas, o šalia gyvenantiems buvo aktualu jį konkretinti. Taigi, tarp K. Petrausko, Parodos ir Radastų gatvių esančią dalį, kur XX a. 9 dešimtmetyje dar buvo atrakcionai, vadinome Mažuoju Ąžuolynu, arba Ąžuolynėliu, o dalį nuo K. Petrausko g. Zoologijos sodo link - Didžiuoju Ąžuolynu. Į Zoologijos sodą eidavome pėsčiomis. Ąžuolyne - įspūdingiausia, be abejo, buvo stumbro skulptūra, bet būdama maža labai mėgau ir L. Striogos "Poilsį", kurį vadinau "hipopo" - matyt, vaikui kažkuo priminė begemotą." (2019 m.)
Read moreSITES OF MEMORY
1 Projects 114 12 RoutesOur memory is framed by spatial reference points: places, sites, buildings, and streets give us our bearings and enable us to anchor and order our memories. So, the material alteration of these places can lead to the substantial modification of our memories, and even their disappearance.Post your memory here