A monument to police officers was unveiled in Lithuania’s second city this week. The obelisk-shaped piece of granite was erected on Kaunas’ main street and is not welcomed by everyone.
The monument dedicated to the police force was unveiled on the central street of Kaunas, Laisvės Avenue, on Thursday. The top of the granite obelisk is adorned with a double Jagiellonian cross and the pedestal features police symbols.
The monument was initiated by police veterans.
“This is a tribute to the police officer, to the police organisation, to our past, our present and our future, it is very important, it will be a symbolic place where officers can be sworn in, awarded, honoured,” says Police Commissioner General Renatas Požėla.
Most of the funds for the initiative, 215,000 euros, came from Kaunas Municipality.
The construction of the obelisk caused some controversy over its design and location. Some also feel that the community was not involved in the decision and the monument appeared on a personal whim of the city’s mayor, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, himself a former policeman.
“What people judge is not the obelisk itself, but that a former policeman mayor builds a tribute to the police,” says Dalius Šarakauskas, an expert with the Chamber of Architects.
The mayor says one cannot please everyone.
“The vast majority of the city’s citizens, especially former or current police officers, are really happy and satisfied,” according to Matijošaitis.
Initially, the Department of Cultural Heritage did not agree to give its blessing to the project. Later they relented, permission was granted for three years. If the public does not approve, the obelisk will have to be taken down.
Some architects have also criticised the design.
“They wanted to make it obelisk-like. To be obelisk-like, it had to be slender. To be slender, but not too small, it had to be quite tall and that’s how it ended up as it is,” says Šarakauskas.
The sculptor who designed the monument says that the original designs had it even bigger, but eventually the obelisk was scaled down from 12 metres to under 8 metres.
“We kept reducing the size, so that it does not obstruct the view of the Sobor,” says Arūnas Sakalauskas, the author, adding that the obelisk is supposed to project strength and upward momentum.
The opinions of the citizens of Kaunas differ.
“The police do such an important job and deserve a monument, a thank you for their work, for their merits,” a woman tells LRT TV.
“A quarter of a million euros could be spent on something more useful for the people,” believes a man. “I have doubts about this obelisk.”
The monument was unveiled to coincide with the reopening of the Kaunas County Chief Police Commissariat, a historic building from the 1930s that has undergone extensive reconstruction.
The building, adjacent to the obelisk, will house almost 300 officers.
“All the criminal police will be here in one place, as well as the management of Kaunas County Police Headquarters, communications, a detention centre, and the officers of the operational management unit,” says Kaunas County Police Chief Mindaugas Baršys.
The listed building is a prime example of Kaunas interwar modernist architecture and was designed by Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, the author of several buildings in Kaunas.
