Day 51. Uzupis. Part III. Free walking tour with Gatves Gyvos.

#Užupis

#CityTours

Last Thursday I participated in a free walking tour in Užupis with Gatves Gyvos project.

Our guide was Albertas Kazlauskas and he is just an awesome guy.

A tour started at Užupio tiltas (Uzupio Bridge). Albertas told us a lot of intersting facts and things about Uzupis but I will mention only this that Uzupis was mentioned for the very first time in 1495, so we can say that Uzupis is officially 621 years old.

I have a huge wish to use this Uzupis Bridge Swing .....

Swing of Destination (or Faith) 

(in April 2019 it was replaced by 3 huge Dreamcatchers :)

And yes, I know that's for children ... but so what?

Albertas presented us the following spots:

1) The sign at the border of the Republic of Užupis (founded in 1997).

2) Sculpture Užupis Mermaid by a sculptor Romas Vilčiauskas
 (let me just remind you that The Mermaid is one of the talking statues :))

3) the map of old Uzupis on one of the buildings at the frontyard of Uzupis Art Incubator.

4) the frontyard of Uzupis of Art Incubator



5) the sculpture of Christ the Pilgrimer

Other Sculptures on the bank of Vilnele names of which I do not know:

Energy Charger :)

6) the Sculpture Kunigaikstis Vilgaudas



7) the Tibet Square

8) Uzupis Angel, also by Romas Vilciauskas



9) St. Bartholomew's Church

10) Jonas Mekas backstreet

11) Uzupis Square where Uzupio street splits into Uzupio street (futher - Polocko street) and Kriviu street

and I left the group here ....

Lateron Albertas took the group to the following points:

12) Bernardine Cementry

and finally to

13) Altana Hill

CONCLUSION: Gatves Gyvos - I <3 You!

Some more about things which are going on in Uzupis here (saint-patricks-day).

Day 50. Visit to the Centre for Civil Education

series of #VilniusINdoors

On July 10 I've visited the Centre for Civil Education located in the Presidential palace.It's such an interesiting educational place.
Not only you will get to the inner courtyard of the Presidential Palace, which is usually closed for visitors, but you will lear how the Lithuanian state functions.
You will learn about institution of the President, its history, about the Parliament, parties, muniscipalities and much much more.
Everything is in Lithuanian, but I guess some information could be found in Enhlish as well.
Just make sure you have at least 3-4 hours and you can spend them here. Although I thisnk that I can spend here the whole day.
The Centre for Civil Education has opened on March 10 and it's quite a new educational place.

First presidents of Lithuania

Presidents of Lithuania starting from 1990

The executive branch in Lithuanina

The Parliament of Lithuania

Check how civivally engaged you are

I've never seen 1000 litas banknote in my life!

PS this guy on 1000 litas is Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis :)

Day 49. Lithuanian Schoolchildren's Song Celebration. Part III. Ensembles Evening

This is a continuation of Part II. Dance Day.
I love Ensembles Evening concert the most of all three concerts of Song Celebration.

Ensembles Evening Koks grazus tavo veidas gimtine (What a Beautiful Face of My Homeland) took place on July 9, traditionally at 10 p.m. and traditionally in Kalnu Park.

This year I could not attend this concert because I had a trip to Latvia on that day (and at 10 p.m. I was somewhere at Latvian - Lithuanian border on my way home).

Nevertheless, you can find the whole concert on www.lrt.lt/mediateka somewhere here.

And now, why I love this concert the most?

Day 48. Schoolchildren's Songs Celebration 2016. Part II: Dance Day.

This post about Schoolchildren's Songs Celebration - Dance Day is a continuation of Part I. Songs Day.

Dance Day My Land is the second grand concert of Songs Celebration It took place on July 8 in the  Siemens Arena (a closed space). It was such a colourful and joyful event!

Songs Festival tradition started in 1924 in Kaunas and, as you see, it sonn will be 100-years old.

The whole history of almost 100-years old tradition is presented on the official website of Celebration's organizer.

On November 7, 2003 UNESCO has proclaimed Songs and Dance Celebrations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

We are really proud of that!

The organizer of Song Celebration is the Lithuanian Folk Culture Centre.

And the organizer of Schoolchildren's Songs Celebration is the National M. K. Ciurlionis School of Arts.

Dance Day concert My Land (or My Earth, it depends how you evision that because Žemė in Lithuanian means the Land as well as the Earth) was just amazing!

Traditional folk dances were perfectly incorporated with ballet dances, modern dances and ballroom dances, and some 3D effects and effects shown of a big flat screen. Dances were acompannied by songs performed by children's bands from private A. Novikas Jazz School: Mini Jazz and  Jazz Island. And these singing kids, in my opinion, are just absolutely tallented!

The whole concert could be found on www.lrt.lt/mediateka somwhere here.

But Im not sure if the link will properly work out.

Later, I will present some short videos made by me. :)

One of first videos. I'e called it The Universe

Samogitian folk song Pempel, Pempel sang by  Jazz Island

Modern dance

Modern dance and a legendary Lithuanian song Pasveikinkim vieni kitus

Concert is comming to its end

The End

And now, you can jump to continuation of Song Celebration  Part III. Esembles Evening

Day 47. Lithuanian Schoolchildren's Song Festival. Part I. Song Day & July 6.

Lithuanian Schoolchildren's Song Festival is an amazing massive culture event in which schoolchildren from all over Lithuania perform jointly in three main concerts: Song Day, Dance Day and Evening of Essemblies.

Traditionally Song Day is held in on July 6 in Vingis Park.

ok. First of all, what is July 6 for Lithuania and Lithuanians? 

On July 6 (Statehood Day) Lithuania celebrates State Day of Lithuania (Coronation Day of King Mindaugas). One of the three main National Holidays in Lithuania.

Official programme of the Statehood Day is presented here.

Traditionally, at 12 p.m. Lithuanian State flag hoisting ceremony takes place at Simonas Daukantas Square in front of the Presidential Palace.

And now, about Song Day. Song Day You are the only one for us concert, as I said, took place in Vingis Park and started at 6 p.m.

For me - this concert, and the other two concerts forming Song Festival are so solemn and so unique. You can just imagine how a simple song sounds when it's performed by over 10,000 schoolchildren standing under Amphitheatre of Vingis Park! 
It's abolutely amazing and it's unforgetable!
But it's subjective :)

Well, the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė is late a bit :)

Lithuania, on July 6 has one more tradition:

At 9 p.m. campaign For Sake of this Land Let Unity Blosom takes place, all Lithuaninans over the world are encouraged to stop for a moment and to sing the National Anthem.  

Here are some traditional songs, that are permormed in almost every Song Celebration.

Suktinis Nepaskutinis (Bitute Pilkoji):

Palinko liepa salia kelio feat. Thundertale:

And one more: called simply Lietuva:

The whole concert could be found on www.lrt.lt/mediateka somewhere here. 

 

And here you can jump to Part II. Dance Day.

Day 46. Vilnius Culture Night 2016

This year I've mssed one of the most joyful and interesting events in the year.
I'm talking about Culture Night Festival !
It took place on 17 June, and, I guess it always takes palce on the third Friday Night of every June.

As organizers state on their website the best time to enjoy art, music and culture is when it's dark.

That's absolutely true. I can't tell about this year Culture Night in detail, but if you are planning to get to Vilnius in the middle of June, DO NOT MISS THIS FESTIVAL. You will stay busy all the evening till 2 a.m. I still you will not have enought time to see everything.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. :)