THE REPUBLIC OF UZUPIS

VILNIUS - JUNE 2008

Užupis, which means "on the other side of a river" (the Vilnia River in the case), is a 0.6 square km district of Vilnius, near the Old Town. The region, often compared with Montmartre in Paris, is quite popular with artists, and houses art galleries, artists' workshops, and popular cafés. In 1997, the district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Užupis).


"CONSTITUTION:
Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnia, while the River Vilnia has the right to flow by everyone.
Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
Everyone has the right to die, but it is not an obligation.
Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
Everyone has the right to be unique.
Everyone has the right to love.
Everyone has the right not to be loved, but not necessarily.
Everyone has the right to be undistinguished and unknown.
Everyone has the right to idle.
Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat.
Everyone has the right to look after a dog untill one of them dies.
A dog has the right to be a dog.
A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need.
Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of his duties.
Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation.
Everyone has the right to be happy.
Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
Everyone has the right to be silent.
Everyone has the right to have faith.
No one has the right to violence.
Everyone has the right to appreciate his unimportance.
Everyone has the right to have a design on eternity.
Everyone has the right to understand.
Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
Everyone has the right to be of any nationality.
Everyone has the right to celebrate or not to celebrate his birthday.
Everyone shall remember his name.
Everyone may share what he possesses.
No-one can share what he does not possess.
Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
Everyone may be independent.
Everyone is responsible for his freedom.
Everyone has the right to cry.
Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
No-one has the right to make another person guilty.
Everyone has the right to be individual.
Everyone has the right to have no rights.
Everyone has the right not to be afraid.
Do not defeat.
Do not fight back.
Do not surrender"



"ANGEL - On April 4, 2001, a statue of an angel blowing a trumpet was unveiled in the main square of Uzupis to replace the former sculpture of an egg. It seems it was intended to symbolize the revival of and the artistic freedom of Uzupis"


"STREET ART"


"INDUSTRIAL AREA - On one of the sides of Uzupis, there is an industrial area built under the Soviet rule, including this former church..."



"ST. BARTHOLOMEW CHURCH"


"PORTUGALIJOS - What is Portugal doing there?"


"PATIO - After WWII, the houses left empty by the Holocaust were occupied by marginal elements of society. Nowadays, artists and bohemians are the most important part of the residents"



"UZUPIS STREET"



"UZUPIO CAFE"


"MERMAID"





"ART GALLERY"


"VILNIA RIVER"


"TOURIST COUPLE"

ARTS IN LITHUANIA

VILNIUS - JUNE 2008

The National M. K. Ciurlionis School of Art, founded in 1945, is named after the famous Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis and is the most important art school in Lithuania. With three different departments, it covers the entire twelve year learning cycle.


"MUSIC DEPARTMENT - Teaches pianoforte, string, wind, percussion and other instruments, choral conducting and music theory. It hosts a junior string orchestra, some of the members appearing on this photo"




"OLD WOODEN SCULPTURES"


"OLD IRON SCULPTURES"



"FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT - It offers courses in painting, graphics, sculpture and design"


"THE BALLET DEPARTMENT is the third one in the school and offers courses in classical, duet and historical dance, ballet and theatre history, as well as other art subjects"

***

The State Song and Dance Ensemble «Lietuva», established in Vilnius in November 1940 and having made its debut on February 22, 1941, is a professional company of dancers, folk instrument orchestra and choir created, in the words of its initial artistic director, composer Jonas Svedas, to upgrade folk instruments, perform «new music in folk style» and stage versions of folk dances. Currently, the ensemble involves 116 persons including singers, dancers, musicians and administrative personnel and, since 2004, its director is the composer Giedrius Svilainis.


"THE ORCHESTRA - The Ensemble upgraded the ancient Lithuanian folk instruments to form a folk instrument orchestra. It includes zither, panpipes, wooden trumpets, pipes, recorders, folk clarinets, a bow made from a pig’s bladder filled with dried peas, cow bells, gongs and other rattles, as well as certain shepherd instruments..."


"SKUDUCIAI - A set of five to eight pipes used to perform instrumental «sutartinès» - an ancient form of two and three voiced polyphony, found in the north-western part of Lithuania"


"SKRABALAI - The instrument, included in the ensemble’s orchestra in 1947, consists of trapezoid wooden bells, which are small trapezoid wooden boxes. The tone of the bell depends on its size. The Ensemble uses skrabalai made of 27 boxes arranged in 7 rows"



"SINGING - In the traditional national costumes"


"DANCERS"


"KLUMPAKOJIS (Clog Dance) - a type of folk dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive rhythms - is one of «The Merriest Lithuanian Polkas»"


"SVENTINE POLKA (Holiday Polka) - A great way to finish the concert"

A STROLL BACK TO SCHOOL

VILNIUS - JUNE 2008

Lithuania joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, and, before the current crisis, it had one of the fastest growing economies in the EU.


"NEW CITY CENTRE - With the Europa Tower in the middle - the tallest skyscraper in the Baltic States - and the Hotel Lieutva on the left"


"BUILDING - Frenetic construction on the right bank of the River Neris"


"PLANETARIUM - The only one in the Baltic States, it is part of the University of Vilnius Theoretical Physics and Astronomy Institute"


"ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL - Old building for new concepts"


"BRIDGE STATUES - Old style statues on the bridge crossing the Neris"


"OPERA HOUSE - It seems that 36 years after the opera was born in Florence the first one - «Il Ratto di Helena» - was produced at the Vilnius Lower Castle; we were on September 4, 1636"



"GEDIMINAS PROSPECT - The main street of Vilnius runs from the Zverynas Bridge to the Cathedral Square. Created in 1836 as St George’s Prospect, it was renamed to Mickiewicz Street by the Poles, Lenin’s Prospect, when Lithuania was one of the Republics of USSR, and Gedimino from 1989. The Parliament, the National Library and the central Bank, as well as banks, hotels, shops, restaurants and cafés may be found there"


"PORTUGUESE EMBASSY - And, of course, the Portuguese Embassy may also be found in Gedimino Avenue"



"SMALL STATE THEATRE - Established in the new building in the autumn of 2005, it has «An Open Theatre» as motto. It seems the essence is to speak a language everyone understands..."


"VILNIUS UNIVERSITY - One of the oldest in Northern Europe and the largest in Lithuania. It started when a college, established in 1570 by the Jesuits who came to Lithuania to fight the Reformation, was transformed by the 1579 King Stephen Bathory's charter into the Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu"


LIBRARY DOOR - The bronze door commemorates the first Lithuanian book"


"LIBRARY - The Library of the University, established in 1570, stores collections of rare publications, the first printed books and maps"


"AULA MAGNA - The main Hall of the University"


"AULA RECTORIS - The Rector's Hall"


"ASTRONOMY was a feature of Vilnius University. As most of the medieval universities, studies probably started with the trivium - logic, grammar and rhetoric - considered preparatory for the more difficult quadrivium - arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy!"


"VIEW - No need of a telescope..."