From Riga to Runsdale to Hill of Crosses to Kaunas
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
18
37
Trip End
Oct 05, 2008
Kaunas,
Lithuania
Sunday, September 14, 2008
First place we stopped was the Runsdale Palace (still in Latvia) built by the husband of the Empress Anna of Russia, in the style of Versailles & the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.
This palace was built in the 1700s, but largely neglected in the Soviet years. They began restoration in the 1970s & those are still going on
Runsdale Palace & Formal French Gardens
. Currently around 48 rooms are restored (out of a total of 138). The last to be restored and re-opened to the public is the Duke's dressing room.As I say, some parts of this palace are reminiscent of Versailles. Grand rooms, mirrors, painted ceilings, sometimes silk tapestry wall paper. When I say to David that I wouldn't mind living in a place like this, he reminds me that some previous occupants were beheaded. Maybe then I just have to be glad that previous extravagant rulers built places that can be visited later by the plebs.
We bought tickets to the inside of the palace, the Formal Gardens & the exhibit called something like "The time of misery" (referring to the years of Soviet occupation). Today was our first really blue sky sunny day in Europe, and while initially I thought it was a shame that this happened on one of our "driving days", the gardens at Runsdale were absolutely exquisite.
Our first instinct was to rush & take some photos of the gardens with the palace as backdrop, but then it seemed a shame not to take the time to reallly enjoy gardens like this. So we chose to wander, explore & even sit for a bit, enjoying the gardens - recognising that that allowed little time in the "Time of Misery" exhibition
Inside Runsdale Palace
. Well we just chose to do that.Under Soviet occupation, initially there was just "re-education" to "encourage" people away from religion. In the 1960s there were more overt financial penalties, fines & attempts made to close down the churches.
Once the churches were closed or neglected, priceless historical religious carvings and art were being lost. One of those who tried to do something about this was "a sympathetic caretaker" of Runsdale Palace - assorted religious carvings and pulpits and paintings & sculptures, some from the 14th century, were stored in the stables of the palace, just to preserve them. Now they are well protected with humidifiers etc but it is quite an astonishing collection.
We made no attempt to see the exhibits of costumes through the ages nor the Latvian portrait painting collection - we had to leave. But it had been a most enjoyable visit.
When we left Riga it was 6 degrees - but sunny. It had reached 8 by the time we reached Runsdale. It was a balmy 12 by the time we got back to the car!
So much so that when we reached our next stop I thought it warm enough to go without a coat. That was a mistake! Although once we walked for a while it wasn't too bad.
In fact our next major stop was in Lithuania
Inside Runsdale Palace - Gilded Room
. We stopped and spent some of our remaining Lats (and all our coin) at a petrol station just before the border, and then at the border David stopped and changed our remaining Lats.We had a bet riding on whether or not we'd have to produce passports at this border. David said no, I said yes. In fact this was the first border we HAVEN'T had to show passports, so I owe David making him a cup of tea. In fact tonight we had some troubles getting onto the internet so he was at a loose end while I was writing this letter, so he made me the coffee instead, so now I owe him 2 teas.
Anyway, our next stop was at the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania. Nobody knows exactly when this tradition started, but for hundreds of years people have been coming to this hill and putting a cross there for various purposes. Sometimes it is in memory of someone, sometimes it is praying for someone or a family. At various times of persecution or terrorism, it seems to also be a statement of defiance and prayers to God for freedom.
A quote from our guidebook:
"During the Soviet era planting a cross was an arrestable offence - but pilgrims kept coming to commemorate the thousands killed or deported
1-Inside Runsdale Palace
. The hill was bulldozed at least 3 times. In 1961 the Red Army destroyed the 2000-odd crosses that stood on the mound, sealed off the tracks leading to the hill and dug ditches at its base, yet overnight more crosses appeared. ... By 1990 the Hill of Crosses comprised a staggering 40,000 crosses ... Since independence, they have multiplied at least 10 times. ... In 1993 Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass here (his pulpit still stands) and graced the hill a year later with a papal cross, adding his own message to the mountain of scribbled on crosses. 'Thank you, Lithuanians, for this Hill of Crosses which testifies to the nations of Europe and to the whole world the faith of the people of this land.' "Some of them were huge, some tiny, some cheap, some elaborate and ornate. David described the place as a "geographical spot of strong emotional intensity".
After John Paul II's visit, he proposed a Franciscan monastery for the place, and that has since opened nearby. The large glass window behind the altar looks out at the Hill of Crosses.
Next stop was on the outskirts of Kaunas - called Ninth Fort. This spot has been a fort for centuries, but under Tsar Alexander I this was the 9th fort in a major series of Russian fortifications
2-Inside Runsdale Palace
. Built partly under hills, in the 1920s it became a Hard Labour Prison for Lithuania.The Russians used it again for their political prisons, but under the Germans it became not only a prison but a concentration camp. In Kaunas they created a Jewish Ghetto, and later rounded up everyone who hadn't already escaped, and sent them to 9th Fort. Thousands were shot there or executed in other ways. It was also a staging camp on the way to other concentration camps. And Jews rounded up elsewhere (eg Jewish children from Paris) were sent there for execution.
I think I remember that 200,000 Jews were killed there and 20 or 30,000 Lithuanian non-Jews. It was incredibly sad. I remember reading one story - a boy and his father, mother and sisters were sent to Kaunas Ghetto & later rounded up & sent to camps. The mother and sisters were killed at Fort 9 in Kaunas. The father and son were sent to Dachau. Eventually the father died there. The son ended up his story with - I know that when I die I will go to Paradise, because I have already been to Hell.
There was the story of the little girl born in the ghetto - her mother smuggled her out & gave her to a Christian family to raise
Inside Runsdale Palace - Duke's Study
. The little girl survived the war, none of her relatives did.There was cell after cell lined with personal stories and it almost became too much. There was the story of the woman whose whole family was killed in the ghetto - who then committed suicide. As well there were story after story of people who had risked their lives to try to save Jews.
One of them was the Japanese Kaunas-based diplomat Sugihara. I've seen a documentary about his life. Described as the Japanese Schindler, he was able to issue passes to people to leave Europe via Japan to go to America - he issued something like 6,000 passes to Jews. Eventually his government told him to close down the embassy & stop issuing passes. He continued for about 48 hours, working around the clock, signing as many passes as he could - and then left the remaining passes with a Kaunas resident he trusted. When interviewed about it he said that yes he disobeyed his country, but to do otherwise would be to disobey God.
Only some of the exhibits had any English commentary, but it was enough. I was not just teary but almost sobbing at times. I really find it difficult to believe how anyone with a conscience could do these things, or justify it in any way. Perhaps people would comply from fear, but - I just can't understand anyone being able to justify this.
Anyway, that was in the Old Museum. Outside there was a monument and various plaques - including a letter of apology from the people of Munich. That Old Museum was built under Soviet occupation
Entering Lithuania
.The New Museum was built recently, presumably after the Soviet years, because the New Museum was primarily about the deportations and persecutions under the Soviets. Some of that was sad too. Not necessarily Jews were persecuted there.
There was one story I read about a boy who was asked when at school, what did he want to do when he left school? He said he wanted to be a priest. From then on, he and his family were persecuted by the authorities. Eventually at age 19 he could stand it no longer. In a public place he set himself alight & as he died screamed "Free Lithuania".
There were stories about Lithuanian officers shipped away to be executed in various places. Anyway, the whole was a very moving experience.
The further south we've come, the less English we find. In Tallinn, a number of the people dealing with tourists had at least a little English. By the time we reached Latvia, there was even less. Our first encounters with Lithuania, very few people speak any English.
Mind, when we visit museums, they seem determined to make sure that we English speakers don't miss out on anything
Hill of Crosses
. Even when we are actually trying to skip a room or an exhibit, nope, we're not allowed. Somebody will decide to make sure we find our way to everything there is to see. At one stage at the 9th fort we managed to communicate that we wanted to go first to the Old Museum, but we had found ourselves in the New Museum. The lady walked us through the museum & opened up a back door for us to point us to the shortest route up to the monument & the Old Museum.
When we came back, by chance that door was still open, so we "slipped in the back door" into the museum. Nobody knew we were there, so more than once, somebody turned off all the lights. At one stage when the lights went out, David left me in the dark & found his way forwards to the front of the museum. I could hear his voice getting further & further away "hello? Hello?" Eventually he must have found somebody because the lights came on again. The lady who had looked after us at first came & signalled her apology. A little later a man walked through & turned off the lights again - she bustled off to turn them on for us again. And then when I was trying to take a photo, she encouraged me over a barrier (where I would not have dared to cross) to ensure I had a good angle to take a photo. Friendly & helpful people, even when we can say no more than "at-choo" - at least that's what it sounds like - believe it or not, that means "Thanks"
1-Hill of Crosses
.Anyway it's getting late. I must hurry to finish this. We then drove on to our hotel in Kaunas. TomTom let us down again (a bit at least), directing us to a bridge that was very obviously no longer there. When we didn't take the bridge, for a while it kept trying to make us turn around & take that (missing) bridge. Eventually, when we kept going, it eventually found another bridge for us & then did direct us to the Old Town to our hotel. More bumping along cobbled streets.
Eventually I parked (half up on the kerb, like the other cars) while David walked to find the hotel. Just up the street but it involved me going in through a gate - with around 2 inches clearance on either side of the car. David enthusiastically signalled me forward while I was unhappily sure we'd scrape somewhere. Then when we were inside the gate he said to me something like "are you right for me to leave you now?" (meaning that he would find where our room was or where we should go next). I had to bite my tongue to hold back the vehemence of my reply that no I was not ready to be left there yet, I wanted help parking.
We are in a nice hotel room here - only trouble was lugging our luggage up 2 floors without any lifts. We dumped our luggage & went out to try to photograph Kaunas before it lost all light (this was around 6 pm). We walked around & took some photos & then had a lovely dinner at Senieji Rusiai.
This restaurant was in an old cellar with vaulted ceiling & lots of atmosphere. A large painting near us was a painting of Napoleon in 1812 preparing to invade Russia via the Passage at Nieman. I asked the waiter (who did have some English) where is Nieman? About 3 kms away he said.
Anyway, that is my 2nd blog entry finished tonight, and I will try to load both up, but I will not try to do photos tonight. I'm tired & we have a long day tomorrow. Actually we return the car in Vilnius at 1 pm, so we should get at least a day-time first look at this city.
Goodnight from Kerry & David in Kaunas
