A three-part bronze relief artwork titled Kaunas History was unveiled Thursday in Vienybės Square, illustrating key epochs in the city’s past.
The detailed artwork, completed over three years, traces Kaunas’ evolution from its origins to the interwar period when the city served as Lithuania’s temporary capital.
The reliefs, assembled using a “Lego-like” principle, consist of roughly 2,000 steel and bronze components. The project was created by sculptor Antanas Vaičekauskas in collaboration with the metalworking company Metalo Formos and the Vytis Support Fund.
“I would like to thank the Vytis Support Fund and Vilius Kavaliauskas for the idea of telling Kaunas’ story in this way,” Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis said during the unveiling. “Thanks also to sculptor Antanas Vaičekauskas, the Metalo Formos team for their unique artwork for Kaunas and its residents, and to historians Simonas Jazavita and Arvydas Pociūnas, along with everyone who contributed.”
According to the Kaunas municipality, the project was inspired by a letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte in Kaunas on June 25, 1812, during his military campaign through the region. The letter, later sold at a Paris auction, served as a starting point for the relief depicting the march of Napoleon’s Grand Army through the city.
“One man did a great deal to promote Kaunas yet never received the Santaka Order,” said Vilius Kavaliauskas, director of the Vytis Support Fund and initiator of the idea. “It could be awarded to him – posthumously, of course. That man is Napoleon Bonaparte, who dearly loved Kaunas. Although he spent only four days in the city, he wrote 22 known letters here, all praising Kaunas. The city’s name appears in 155 documents, while Lithuania is mentioned half as often.”
The authors of the reliefs describe the bronze panels as multilingual guides to Kaunas’ past. Installed along the popular pedestrian route known as the Ant Trail, the works are designed to remind residents and visitors of the city’s most significant historical moments.
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