Mission [im]possible: in search of Lithuania's new national monument

ENFor over 30 years, since the toppling of the Lenin statue in 1991, Lukiškės Square in Vilnius has remained devoid of a mnemonic reminder of national martyrdom and liberation from the Soviet occupation. While yielding no visible outcome, the ongoing search for a new national symbol continues to shape the discussions about the Lithuanian nation, its representation and values in the twenty-first century. By examining the stalled institutional efforts to construct a monument in Lukiškės Square, this article, following Alings, questions whether it is possible to conceive of the national monument as a concrete structure with a fixed meaning that is static and immune to change. Furthermore, through an analysis of the continued debate surrounding the monument, this contribution proposes to view Lukiškės Square as Lithuania’s prime memoryscape in which conflicting visions of the country’s past and its present-day identity vie for supremacy. Keywords: counter-monument, Lithuania, memoryscape, monument, national memory, victimhood nationalism.

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