In short

If you walk along Gediminas Avenue you’ll eventually stumble across a building currently used as a district courthouse that has various names and dates inscribed on its outer wall.

Inscriptions commemorating the victims of Soviet occupation are engraved on the base of the Court of Appeal. Artist Gitenis Umbrasas started this initiative, and the monument honouring the victims is one of the few objects in Lithuania attributed to non-traditional monuments. Due to the monument's very close relationship with its environment and context, it can be considered localised.

Thus, by engraving the base of the building with the names and partisan aliases of convicts and people buried in Tuskulėnai, the whole building became a monument.

During the Nazi rule of Lithuania the Gestapo functioned here, and during the Soviet era the building was converted into the KGB headquarters.

People were tortured and killed in this building, so it has a great deal of symbolic meaning directly related to the saddest years of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Inscriptions Honoring the Victims of Soviet Occupation is one of Vilnius’ talkings culptures. This is evident from the blue table attached to the sculpture's pedestal, inviting you to listen to the sculpture. Using your smartphone, choose one of the two alternatives listed in the table: scan the QR code or type in the specified URL. More information - Vilnius speaking sculptures.

Brief History

Nowadays, the building is not just a court, but also a museum dedicated to the victims of occupation. Its outer facade carries the names of people who have suffered regime atrocities and sacrificed their lives after being identified as traitors to the country. An outdoor pyramid placed next to the facade of the inscribed names also symbolises the desire to remember the suffering of these people.

The sculptors and architects of the Inscriptions Honoring the Victims of Soviet Occupation are Gitenis Umbrasas, Gediminas Karalius, Vytautas Čekanauskas, Algirdas Umbrasas, and Lina Maslauskienė.