OPEN ARCHIVES OF KAUNAS

*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)

*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)

Music club Senas Stalčius (Laisvės ave. 46a) was open for several years since 1995. The club was established in the building of cinema Laisvė (called Forum during the Inter-War period). It is a great example of a certain type of architecture in Laisvės Alėja: a public building designed in the internal yard.

*Audronė:* „Prieplaukos krantinę vadindavom cimbruvka. Gyvenimas prie upės vyko pilnu tempu. Buvo ir laivų, ir garlaivių, ir dyzelinių, ir garinių – visokių. Pavasarį atitempdavo dviejų aukštų prieplauką: antrame aukšte – restoranas, pirmame – kasos, aptarnavimas. Buvo du gariniai garlaiviai, su dideliais ratais, plaukdami keldavo dideles bangas – Kęstutis ir Ždanovas. Valtimi nuo tos prieplaukos kilnodavo į Marvelę. Bėgdavome pasitikti garlaivių. Žmonės atplaukdavo su gyvom vištom ir žąsim. Vyko judrus gyvenimas. Vakarais daug kas eidavo į restoraną. Jį atplukdydavo su barža. Rudenį nuvilkdavo į žiemos uostą saloj, kurio irgi dabar nebėra. /..../

*Grafas: *This photo hangs on a wall in my house. Interestingly, those who see it for the first time do not seem to understand what place and view it is. And this is the centre of Kaunas during the Soviet times, 1980. It is Janonio (Vienybės) Square and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Art Museum and War Museum. It is a view from an unusual angle, i.e. from the tower/roof of a building which was then a radio factory. The photo has was made by a professional and great expert of colours Juozas Polis. During Sąjūdis, he published several wonderful photo-albums about Lithuania. I got this photo from him as a present. Format: 60x50 cm.

*Alvydas: *Some time ago, before the monument for Darius and Girėnas, there was a “singing fountain”. Everyone really liked it... (2014)

*Liucija and Daiva*: "Sonata" was an integral part of our youthful life, just like lessons, it was the same with dancing. I remember, during Čiurlionis' 100th commemoration, we have been traveling Lithuania with a performance. We were fifteen. We would get back late at night, and ran home from Panemunė bridge, while our frightened mothers waited at the stairwells with their nightgowns on. Next day – back to school, we go there - and get in trouble, because we are wearing makeup. No matter if we‘ve tried to clean that terrible smelly makeup, it would remain...

*Galina*: “Formerly, the Christmas tree was decorated at Vienybės (Unity) Square. There was a feast and Santa Claus was coming to see the children. We lived in S.Nėries Street (now V.Putvinskio Street), so we would see the decorated tree from our home windows. They would always decorate a real tree and near it would stand a sculpture of mister Lenin, pointing his butt to our windows…”

*Asija*: “When the family got too big, we received a room in Laisvės Ave. 1A (currently Laisvės Ave. 3). The apartment had 5 rooms, each housing a different family. The rooms were separated by glass doors. Each side followed their own way of living. This “transparent’’ life continued for a long time, as covering the doors or building a wall were not affordable. Those doors made the apartment authentic and beautiful.”

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)

*Lili Kristina Vaičekauskaitė-Čepauskienė (2014):* Everyone on the same lion !

*Alvydas (50):* When my then-future wife was studying in Kaunas Polytechnic Institute, we would often walk around the Oakwood Park... We made several photos there...:) (2014)