I am not sure that the claim of this museum, also known as Europos Parkas, to be the centre of Europe is geographically entirely correct – although, apparently, the French National Geographic Institute has, in 1989, determined so. But in any case, at about half an hour’s drive north of Vilnius this this is a wonderful open-air museum, or rather a sculpture park, with over a hundred works seemingly randomly distributed across a 55 hectare forest. The works represent artists from 35 countries, of which the majority are, understandably, Lithuanian. Especially Ginteras Karosas, coincidentally also the founder of the park, is well represented, but then, quite a lot of his works are original and interesting, not in the least the ‘Infotree’, claimed to be the largest sculpture with TV sets in the world, using some 3000 of them.
The museums advertises with a few of its top artists, like Sol LeWitt and David Oppenheimer, but many other artists are, let me say, less well known – I certainly recognise none of the Dutch sculptors represented here. Nevertheless, we spend an enjoyable few hours in this museum, admiring a whole range of interesting, thought-provoking art works, once again in beautiful surroundings.
Next: Druskininkai.