Klaipėda Has a Place Found Nowhere Else in Lithuania

Central Klaipėda’s Sculpture Park brings together military history, a former cemetery and an open-air collection of contemporary art. Guide and writer Sondra Simanaitienė says the combination creates cultural layers found nowhere else in Lithuania.

The park contains a defensive field fortification dating from the early 19th-century war with Napoleon, along with traces of the former city cemetery. Visitors can also find steps, a Memory Labyrinth, two surviving 19th-century monuments and reconstructed symbolic gravestones. The open-air gallery currently has 117 sculptures and is expected to reach 118 soon.

Night tours organized by Klaipėda’s tourism information center have become popular. Simanaitienė recalled one July tour that began at 10 p.m. during a storm and heavy rain. She expected few people to attend, but visitors came. As the group moved through the park, the sky cleared and the park lights came on.

She said the shadows at night change how the sculptures look and create a distinct atmosphere. Among the works she discussed was “Shadows of Waves,” which she interprets as a metaphor for human life, memory and the passage of age. She also highlighted Romualdas Kazlauskas’s “Icarus,” which she connects with the idea of freedom.

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It was a really excellent tour. As we traveled, the sky cleared and the park lights came on.