A visit to Grutas Park in Lithuania (also known as the Soviet Sculpture Museum) - July 2018
Grutas Park sits on the outskirts of the old spa town of Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. The drive from Vilnius, Lithuania's capital city, takes you through the stunning Dzukija National Park and picturesque farmland either side.
The park itself lies within a forested sanctuary on the banks of Grutas lake. It is quiet, fresh and inviting – at least in Summer. It is now home to about 100 Soviet monuments including statues of Lenin and Stalin, several museum displays, a small zoo for rare animals and a small amusement complex with rides for children. It has been called one of the 'top ten weirdest museums in the world' – from what I saw, a fairly reasonable claim.
In 2001 the park was opened by the former Lithuanian collective farmer, wrestler and mushroom millionaire, Viliumas Malinauskus. The US $2 million dollar experiment was the outcome of Malinauskus' winning bid for a government contract to build a site for Lithuania's defunct Soviet monuments.
Malinauskus and Grutas park came under immediate criticism for what many perceived as a disrespectful approach to portraying Lithuania's recent past. With memories of the Soviet occupation fresh in their minds, many Lithuanians believed the mix of theme-park, museums and monuments trivialised what was for many a dark period. In the original plan, Malinauskus also wanted to build a railway line into the park modelling the train system used by the USSR to deport Lithuanians after the occupation of 1940. Thankfully this was scrapped in the lead up to the park's construction amid harsh criticism that it made light of a brutal policy.
Malinauskus has repeatedly defended his creation. The park's website justifies the display of the statues in the following manner:
"The aim of this exposition is to provide an opportunity for Lithuanian people, visitors coming to our country as well as future generations to see the naked Soviet ideology which suppressed and hurt the spirit of our nation for many decades."
He has gone much further in a variety of interviews, however, and suggested that the real purpose of the park is to allow people to see the statues, joke about them and so be released from some of the trauma caused by the Soviet occupation. Since the park is situated in the area occupied by the Lithuanian resistance, he adds, the joke is not on his own people, but on the Soviet regime.
As a visitor in July 2018 I found it hard to know how to react. I was admittedly amused by the bizarre combination of gulag guard towers, statues of Soviet leaders, museum displays, rare birds and laughing children enjoying the play equipment just outside one of the park's cafeterias. It was difficult not to chuckle at such a juxtaposition of the serious and (what seemed to me to be) the silly.
At the same time, I was put off by the bears pacing their compounds and monkeys (of a species I cannot remember) bored in their cages that seemed just a little too small for my liking. I also found it difficult to manage my reactions moving from imposing Soviet monuments to the zoo to the rides. It was confusing and, if I'm honest, uncomfortable.
There are some who are willing to defend Malinauskus' creation or at least see in it something more than crass economic opportunism. The Economist has argued, for example, that by removing the statues from their positions of dominance and privilege in Lithuanian cities, the park 'blunts the statues’ force'. There is probably some truth to that - they felt more like a joke to me than something to be feared or revered in any way.
People also seem to be voting with their feet. According to most reports, the park receives a steady-stream of visitors every year including school groups and international visitors (like myself). Some estimates put the regular number of visitors at around 200,000 per year. One of the most popular periods is in April when the park holds its annual event. Typically, this includes a play about Soviet life, actors dressed in traditional Soviet fashion and even Lenin and Stalin imposters wandering the park for photo opportunities.
In the year it opened, Malinauskus won an igNoble Peace Prize for the construction of 'Stalin Land' (as it is known to locals). The critics have not backed down but, according some reports, Malinauskus seems to have been emboldened by the controversy.
For me, the park raises basic questions about history and memory in post-conflict spaces. How we remember difficult periods of the past is a question most nations are forced to deal with at some point. Grutas Park may not please all Lithuanians but it is undoubtedly provocative. I am not Lithuanian so I don't feel it is my place to comment on whether this is an intelligent way to deal with the Soviet legacy in that country.
Perhaps its greatest contribution for an international visitor like me is that it forces me to think about the ethics of memory in my own country. In Australia, there are many pressure points in our national memory around sites like the Australian War Memorial, the construction of new colonial-era statues and the memorial to the Myall Creek Massacre in 1838. I can't think of anything in Australia similar to the bizarre Grutas Park but if we have it, I'd like to see it.
Other resources of interest
The following is a list of other articles about Grutas Park. Some of these were used to put this post together but most are more detailed and less personal than I have tried to be here.
Article from The Economist: https://www.economist.com/prospero/2017/08/30/how-lithuania-dealt-with-its-soviet-statues
Article from NBC News: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12635612/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/stalins-world-theme-park-draws-thousands/#.W2VIUdgzaXQ
Entry from 'Dark Tourism': http://www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/15-countries/individual-chapters/555-stalin-world-gruto-parkas-lithiania
Photographs by Magnum Photographer Martin Parr: http://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=29YL5322007
Blog post from Museum Studies Abroad: http://museumstudiesabroad.org/grutas-park-and-the-fate-of-soviet-statuary-in-lithuania/
Article from the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3941218/Back-USSR-Grutas-Park-Stalin-World-bizarre-Lithuanian-theme-park-giant-statues-communist-leaders-final-resting-place.html
Travel Lithuania website: http://www.lithuania.travel/en-gb/attractions/grutas-park/17130