Druskininkai - southernmost town in Lithuania, part 4
When the life came back to the "normal tempo" this year I am coming back to some of my not finished series series. Today I am continuing my reports about Druskininkai:
From the Nemunas embankment I turned back to the side of the center. Soon here you will find one of the most famous monuments in Druskininkai - monument to M.K. Čiurlionis (built in 1975, sculptor V. Vildžiūnas):
On the left side you soon will see that villas becoming richer but they aren't very modern:
This is isn't very strange since all of them were built in the neighborhood of former sanatorium "Lietuva" (now Grand SPA Lietuva). Sanatorium was built in 1971 (arch. V. Balčiūnas and others) and it served as the sanatorium for the elite of LSSR (in principle had the same purpose as sanatorium "Belarus" had for the elite of BSSR). In this sanatorium several famous persons of LSSR died (most famous of them was A. Sniečkus - head of LSSR in 1940-1973 - who died after massage; but also some famous composers and artists who could be ascribed to the "official artists" of LSSR). In recent decades sanatorium was reconstructed essentially and now is completely different from it's 1970s-1980s predecessor:
Former sanatorium was increased in size - conference and therapy center and water center (sic!) were added:
Imitation of pump-room in the yard:
In front of "Grand SPA Lietuva" you can find several sculptures. Some of them are purely decorative:
But among them is now probably single monument to the living person in Lithuania - monument to actor Donatas Banionis (I need to note that monument is very popular among Russian tourist - I even was forced to wait in a queue to take a photo of it ...):
The immediate neighbor of "Lietuva" is another hotel - theater festival hotel (never heard about theater festivals in Druskininkai):
Boulangerie - some very typical attribute for this resort town:
These cars represents very well the nationalities of most tourists visiting Druskininkai:
Then I temporarily returned back to the side of aquapark (shown in previous report) but using other streets. Here you can find main place of Druskininkai authorities - local municipality. It consists from two parts - older and newer:
In front of the municipality was built monument to king Mindaugas in 1995. Looking to it you can immediately guess the author - sculptor Vytautas Kašuba (1915 - 1997 in New York) since it is very characteristic for him:
Details of the sculpture:
Going further - one more hotel and hotels here are located even in such buildings:
This is also hotel but much more expensive - "Best Western Hotel Imperial" (built in 1901):
Monument to one more very famous native of this town - sculptor Jacques Lipsic - who spent most of his life in Paris:
And Lipsic memorial museum:
We will make a stop and then turn back near the Orthodox church (built in 1865):
Near the church is the monument of real estate boom of 2003-2008 - the modern residential complex. I am always estranged by the people who are buying apartments and using them one or two monts in a year ...
In the yards of complex:
And the small house which I found near this complex is also hotel ...
Here I again made a turn and will continue in the future :)
From the Nemunas embankment I turned back to the side of the center. Soon here you will find one of the most famous monuments in Druskininkai - monument to M.K. Čiurlionis (built in 1975, sculptor V. Vildžiūnas):
On the left side you soon will see that villas becoming richer but they aren't very modern:
This is isn't very strange since all of them were built in the neighborhood of former sanatorium "Lietuva" (now Grand SPA Lietuva). Sanatorium was built in 1971 (arch. V. Balčiūnas and others) and it served as the sanatorium for the elite of LSSR (in principle had the same purpose as sanatorium "Belarus" had for the elite of BSSR). In this sanatorium several famous persons of LSSR died (most famous of them was A. Sniečkus - head of LSSR in 1940-1973 - who died after massage; but also some famous composers and artists who could be ascribed to the "official artists" of LSSR). In recent decades sanatorium was reconstructed essentially and now is completely different from it's 1970s-1980s predecessor:
Former sanatorium was increased in size - conference and therapy center and water center (sic!) were added:
Imitation of pump-room in the yard:
In front of "Grand SPA Lietuva" you can find several sculptures. Some of them are purely decorative:
But among them is now probably single monument to the living person in Lithuania - monument to actor Donatas Banionis (I need to note that monument is very popular among Russian tourist - I even was forced to wait in a queue to take a photo of it ...):
The immediate neighbor of "Lietuva" is another hotel - theater festival hotel (never heard about theater festivals in Druskininkai):
Boulangerie - some very typical attribute for this resort town:
These cars represents very well the nationalities of most tourists visiting Druskininkai:
Then I temporarily returned back to the side of aquapark (shown in previous report) but using other streets. Here you can find main place of Druskininkai authorities - local municipality. It consists from two parts - older and newer:
In front of the municipality was built monument to king Mindaugas in 1995. Looking to it you can immediately guess the author - sculptor Vytautas Kašuba (1915 - 1997 in New York) since it is very characteristic for him:
Details of the sculpture:
Going further - one more hotel and hotels here are located even in such buildings:
This is also hotel but much more expensive - "Best Western Hotel Imperial" (built in 1901):
Monument to one more very famous native of this town - sculptor Jacques Lipsic - who spent most of his life in Paris:
And Lipsic memorial museum:
We will make a stop and then turn back near the Orthodox church (built in 1865):
Near the church is the monument of real estate boom of 2003-2008 - the modern residential complex. I am always estranged by the people who are buying apartments and using them one or two monts in a year ...
In the yards of complex:
And the small house which I found near this complex is also hotel ...
Here I again made a turn and will continue in the future :)