He loves Vytis not only in Vilnius, but also in other cities: he has established a charity fund for this purpose.

“We believe that on the occasion of the century, very little effort has been made to perpetuate the memory of freedom fighters,” said K. Akkelaitis during a press conference at Seimas on Thursday.

He recalled that in 2017, the Vytis Support Foundation organized a competition to build a Vytis monument on Lukiškės Square. The monument was due to appear in the square before February 16, 2018, when the centenary of the restoration of the Lithuanian state was commemorated, but this did not happen after the Ministry of Culture and the Center for Contemporary Art organized another competition. The last competition was won by the “Freedom Hill” project, and Vytis, called “Freedom Warrior”, was built in Kaunas.

According to K. Akelaitis, the ideas of other participants in the Vytis monument competition could also be realized in the country’s cities. Druskininkai and Pasvalys are already interested in that.

“Of course, while maintaining the main objective, the monument with Vytis would remain in Vilnius, Lukiškės Square,” added K. Akaitaitis.

According to him, the foundation promises to address Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and offer cooperation at the Vytis memorial in Lukiškės Square.

The Vytis Foundation with the Freedom Fighters Memorial was founded on June 30 by the leaders and participants of 11 patriotic organizations. The foundation came later The Seimas passed the Law on the arrangement of Lukiškės Square and he predicted that Vytis would be the main accent of this representative square in Lithuania.

The president of the Foundation Board, Jonas Burokas, assured that this law was highly anticipated.

“Our foundation coincided in some way, maybe God gave or coincidentally coincided with this approval of the law,” he said.

Prime Minister S. Skvernelis previously stated that the government should take over Lukiškės Square in order for the Vytis sculpture to be erected there.

“There is no point in leaving it again for discussions and contests, if we do, it must be said that the state will take over and the project will be finished,” said S. Skvernelis.

He considered that it would be possible to build the second place in the square in the competition for the project to build the Vytis sculpture in Lukiškės Square. This is the “Blancos” project of Gitenis Umbrass.

Photo by Šarūnas Akelaitis / “White”