2024-07-10 05:38:21
This is how V. Matijošaitis assessed the proposal of the opposition conservatives, rejected by the Kaunas Council on Tuesday, to establish a Historical Memory Commission in the municipality, which would provide decisions on the naming of streets, squares, schools and other buildings in the temporary capital, as well as the installation and removal of memorial signs. The mayor testified that during his leadership of the municipality, more than one monument or other accent adorning the city was erected in Kaunas.
“At least while I am in this building (Kaunas City Municipality – ELTA), about 150 works of artists appeared in the city, highlights and the city changed. Sometimes the commissions are very good, but sometimes, if they are grandiose, they hinder the speed of work, the work itself, and then the debate show “Oppose” starts, V. Matijošaitis told journalists on Tuesday after the Kaunas Council meeting.
The mayor of Kaunas reminded that controversies were avoided in the temporary capital during the construction of the “Freedom Warrior” sculpture – unlike in Vilnius, where Vytis is not erected in Lukiškiau Square.
“We can also look at the construction of the Vytis sculpture in Vilnius. There were various options, but is any one of them standing? Nobody stands still,” he compared the situations in the big cities of Lithuania.
In addition, he added, the municipality already has a working group for devising names and perpetuating memories, which, as the mayor made it clear, is at least partially carrying out what was intended to be entrusted to the Commission of Historical Memory.
“This is a task force. There are maybe twenty specialists from all fields who decide, say – beautiful, ugly”, he added.
“I’m not a neurosurgeon to decide what the opposition have in their heads”
At that time, V. Matijošaitis did not miss the opportunity to sting the opponents, responding to the opposition’s criticism that the monuments in Kaunas are being built by a one-man decision of the mayor.
“I am not a specialist in the neurological department, a doctor, to decide what the opposition has in their heads, if they have any. As citizens, they can express their opinion. It’s just strange to me that the citizens support our decisions to build monuments, sculptures and beautify the city, while the opposition (…) is strange to me,” he retorted to the critics.
However, V. Matijošaitis emphasized that the opinion of the city residents is important to the municipality and that they are always listened to.
ELTA reminds that on Tuesday the Kaunas City Council did not approve the proposal of opposition conservatives to establish a Historical Memory Commission in the municipality.
Although discussions on the creation of such a commission in the council continued for some time, the issue again received more attention after the decisions to build a monument to President Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas. At that time, the Kaunas opposition criticized the ambitions of the mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis and claimed that the temporary capital lacked a clear policy of historical memory.
The commission was intended to consist of 16 members, half of whom are representatives delegated by non-municipal institutions: historians, architects, cultural experts, and an art critic. Also, one mayor, a couple of representatives of the municipal administration and 5 council members would work in the commission.
The authors of the idea suggested that the commission be tasked with providing decisions related to naming, changing, installing and removing memorial signs of streets, squares, schools and other buildings in the temporary capital. In this way, professionals from various fields, and not politicians, should have a decisive voice in the implementation of the policy of historical memory, the document states.
2024-07-10 05:38:21