The Green Bridge

This road bridge central Vilnius, Lithuania, across the Neris River is called "Green Bridge" ('Žaliasis tiltas' in Lithuanian) because the main steel body of this bridge is indeed painted a kind of green. But what used to set it apart from other bridges was the fact that its bridgeheads were still adorned with four sets of Soviet-era ensembles of statues, each over 10 feet (3.2 m) high. They represented fine examples of classic socialist-realistdepictions of the merits of a communist society, with equal glory allocated to farmers, construction workers, scientists/education, and soldiers. 

    

The latter, represented by a pair of statues called “Guarding Peace”, were the most controversial from the viewpoint of independent post-Soviet Lithuania in as much as they still featured the hammer-and-sickle symbol. I found that counterpointed by the fact that they were looking towards a NATO flag when I was there in2014 … I think there may have been some kind of NATO gathering or conference going on at the time. Given the recent developments in Russia and Ukraine, however, the juxtaposition inadvertently also exuded grimmer implications … 

    

All four groups of statues were not in the best of shape and badly in need of restoration work. Some parts were only crudely held together by additional metal plates and screws. A plaque added after independence that commemorates the repression and the countless deportations under the Soviet regime, on the other hand, looked perfectly polished

  

Also squeaky clean and shiny is the added modern sculpture under the bridge, called “chain” and made up of three intertwined silver rings dangling over the water surface. It's probably just as well that given its hidden location this modern addition will hardly be noticed by anybody ...