Peter Cvirkas Statue in Vilnius

The statue for the Lithuanian writer Petras Cvirka was built not only because of his talent as a successful writer, but also due to his collaboration with the Soviet regime after the Soviet occupation in 1940. The new wave of discussions about memory, heritage objects in public spaces, and national identity started on a national level after the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania in 1990. Despite various opinions about the past of Lithuania, the narrative of creating a modern country took a solid position that was created by intellectuals and new-generation pro-Western liberal politicians who took the initiative to re-create the public spaces. Therefore, the taking down of Petras Cvirka’s statue in 2021 was a political action with no one-sided supportive opinion from the public.