Vilnius City Municipality is going ahead with its new public art sponsorship programme “Create Vilnius” despite the coronavirus outbreak. On 18 March, the outdoor model "Cathedral" of the art cycle "Fragments of the Old City", which is the first artistic field project implemented under the programme, was unveiled.
The bronze mini-scale model depicts the ensemble of Vilnius Upper and Lower Castles with the Cathedral and the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania at the time of the country’s greatest prosperity in the 16th century. Shown is the former Vilnelė riverbed, an area complete with castles, a defensive wall, and part of the city area with the Slopes of the Three Crosses.
The mini-scale model was prepared in cooperation with the National Museum of Lithuania and the administration of the rebuilt Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and was based on historical data.
The layout features a brief description of the buildings depicted in it, in Lithuanian and English. There is also a sign that the year 2020 has been declared the year of UNESCO World Heritage in Lithuania to highlight the significance of the country’s cultural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, including the Vilnius Historic Centre.
A Braille description has been prepared for visually impaired people, so as to help them in better understanding the most prominent places of Vilnius Old Town. The Municipality cautions that contact screening during the coronavirus pandemic can be dangerous!
Unrivalled outdoor display
The ”Cathedral” model is billed as an attractive way for Vilnius residents and visitors to get acquainted with the history of Vilnius as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to the Municipality, there are no outdoor displays of this kind in neighbouring capital cities Riga and Tallinn and a similar model, depicting the Old Town with its defensive walls until World War II, is to be found only in Warsaw.
20 winning projects have been selected under the “Create Vilnius” programme, out of 120 bids. Among them is the transformation of the hugely popular Kiaušinis (Easter egg) sculpture at Pylimo street.
This temporary item travelling across various urban areas each year has grown into a symbol marking the local identity. Now artist Jurgis Dagelis plans to improve on the egg, making it a mechanised wonder combining movement, sound and light.
