Visaginas, a formerly nuclear town in the northeast of Lithuania, is reinventing itself by hosting a world-class collection of historical fashion.
The Russian fashion historian and TV host Alexandre Vassiliev has accepted the invitation to house his 500-million-euro fashion collection in Visaginas, with regular exhibitions expected to draw visitors from across the country and beyond, says the town's Mayor Erlandas Galaguz.
The Alexandre Vassiliev Foundation's collection was previously housed in the Lithuanian Museum of Applied Arts and Design, but was transferred last week to a former children's clinic in Visaginas.
Visaginas mayor believes that this event will improve the image of the town which has been looking for a new identity. It was built in the 1970s to service the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant which went offline in 2009 and is now in the process of decommissioning.
A predominantly Russian-speaking town, Visaginas is also seen as somewhat detached from the rest of the country and has recently been in the news for its relatively slow pace of vaccination.
Read more: People in Lithuanian town shun AstraZeneca vaccine claiming safety fears
But Mayor Galaguz says the criticism is somewhat unfounded, while cultural events could be the best way to bring Russian and Lithuanian-speaking communities together.
This is a big event for Visaginas: the collection of Alexandre Vassiliev has already been delivered to the city. The agreement with the Foundation was signed at the end of last year, but how did you get the idea to place the collection in Visaginas?
To clarify, last year we made a decision at the council to sign a cooperation agreement with this Foundation, and we signed an agreement on providing it with premises only last week. This happened quite spontaneously due to the fact that we learned from the media that they were looking for premises.
Svetlana Babueva, a member of the Council, responded to the call. We contacted the Foundation, offered them a helping hand, and now a really big thing for our town is happening: the Alexandre Vassiliev Foundation will be based here.
The Foundation's collection is huge. How quickly did you manage to find a place for it?
I cannot say that we found the premises quickly. We held three or four meetings with representatives of the Foundation. I personally showed these people the premises; not all the locations we offered were suitable, as there are certain conditions.
But, nevertheless, we found the building, it will almost completely belong to the Foundation. This is a former children's clinic, which has not been used for its intended purpose for many years. It was modernised, the heating system functions well; there the Foundation will be able to hold its exhibits.
Vassiliev's collection contains many historical costumes, which may require special storage conditions: humidity, temperature. Have you discussed these points or will the Foundation itself take care of it?
These issues will be dealt with by the Foundation, since they decided that these premises suit their needs. The municipality does not bear any responsibility for the safety of this collection, this is taken care of by the Foundation itself.
According to the agreement, does the Foundation undertake to hold at least two exhibitions a year?
Yes, this is true. Under the cooperation agreement, the Foundation undertakes to organise at least two exhibitions, which will be free of charge for the Municipality. We hope that the exhibitions will interest not only our residents, but also guests from other cities and countries.
Where exactly will these exhibitions be held?
This is also quite difficult to say. We showed them the potential location for that – and we think it will be the Visaginas Culture Centre.
Vassiliev himself posted a very emotional message on social media about Visaginas giving him the opportunity to keep his collection there, which Vilnius and even Moscow did not do. How would you describe the importance of this occasion for the city?
I believe that this gives us a lot; of course, exhibitions, but the very fact that such foundations come to cooperate with us in Visaginas is invaluable, we are proud that we will have the Foundation here.
What other projects, including those in the field of business, has the town been working on recently?
We have had several breakthroughs. The town, after the closure of the nuclear power plant, was at a crossroads, but in 2020 a new enterprise, [the medical device manufacturer] Intersurgical, started operating here. They built a completely new plant in our town and now they are already working, recruiting workers. The business centre Spiečius was recently opened.
As for the sphere of culture, we have organised informal education, now we have an Academy of Creativity and Arts. We are proud that we were able to invite very experienced directors both to the academy itself and to the Culture Centre.
There are changes in the sports life of our town: we have completed the construction of a rowing base that meets all the best standards. In addition, a new basketball school was founded. There are investments in our urban infrastructure: we are starting the construction of a new bus station. The list goes on.
Recently, the town has been criticised in the media; first for the high incidence rates of the coronavirus, now for the slow pace of vaccination. Commentators again started calling it a ‘Russian-speaking enclave’. Do you agree with the criticism? And what do you think can be done to improve the town's image?
Indeed, we've lost a lot of time in building the image of the town, and I must admit that in this area Visaginas lagged behind others in Lithuania, and that this image must somehow be changed. Maybe we should pay more attention to information campaigns. On Saturday, there will be an article about a young family who believe, like me, that this is the best town to live in, one where you can get decent formal and informal education.
Besides that, we are very close to the capital, we have a well-established connection with Vilnius; you can live in Visaginas and make use of the cultural advantages of the capital no worse than those who live in Vilnius itself.
As for the pandemic, there are some signs that vaccination in our town is slower. But the idea is not to vaccinate everyone, but to get everyone immune to this disease as soon as possible. After all, we must take into account the fact that we had an outbreak of infections and very many people already have immunity. And to demand from them that they still be vaccinated, it would be both senseless and wrong.
Therefore, in terms of the level of immunisation, we are one of the leading towns in Lithuania.
Russian-speaking residents of Visaginas, Šalčininkai and even Klaipėda are said to be exposed to Russian propaganda and more often listen to what is said on Russian TV than to the Lithuanian authorities. Do you notice that living and working there?
It is difficult to say, but one must look at this objectively: if a person understands the state language [Lithuanian] poorly or does not understand it at all, then, of course, they will receive more information from the media in the language they know.
Our population is still Russian-speaking, we try to provide information about vaccination and about our country in Russian. And which sources of information are dominant is difficult to say. I would not say that our people are more attuned to the Russian media.
You say that many residents of Visaginas use Russian and often do not speak Lithuanian. What is being done to change this situation?
Our preschool institutions and schools are divided into Russian-speaking and Lithuanian-speaking, and the trend is that, at least in kindergartens, parents are more inclined to send their children to Lithuanian-speaking kindergartens. And we think that our kindergartens should not be only Russian or only Lithuanian; in the same kindergarten, there could be groups of Russian and Lithuanian children and these children would teach each other.
For example, my children, although we speak Lithuanian at home, speak excellent Russian as well, I am very happy about that. This is a blessing, and our residents are beginning to understand this. I think that most people already understand this. We also have adult education, there is a programme for adults, they can also study the state language.
But what do you think could motivate adults to learn Lithuanian in a town where you can go about your business completely in Russian?
You know, it is hard to say. Taking the opportunity that on April 15 we celebrate the Day of Culture, it is probably connected with this; we must go through culture. I mean culture in the broadest sense of the word; culture of communication, culture of production, cultural events and so on.
I myself saw that when good theatre productions came to our town, before the pandemic, even people who spoke Lithuanian very poorly came to see the performances. Such things seem to me to be stimulating. This movement closer to each other should be mutual, it unites. People begin to respect each other and, thus, this is an incentive to learn another language.
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