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Defense of Freedom in 1991

Commemorative signs of January 13, 1991 in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

Commemorative signs of January 13, 1991 in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

 

The Soviet Union’s military aggression against Lithuania in January 1991 saw the Buildings of the Seimas walled in with barricades. In place until the end of 1992, the barricades served as a spot for national self-expression and an open air gallery for protest against the military aggression by the Soviet Union. 

In order to give meaning to the sacrifice of the Lithuanian people, a composition consisting of barricade fragments and other authentic commemorative items was installed outside the Buildings of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in 1993, thus preserving the defensive structures as a monument.

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom, the decision was made to protect the composition by installing the January 13 Memorial. It was opened to the public in 2008. The authors of the Memorial preserved an authentic fragment of the defensive walls of the Seimas dating back to 1991. A chapel of the Most Holy Virgin Mary was also added to the Memorial. 

The January 13 Memorial at the Buildings of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania attests to Lithuania’s difficult path to independence as well as the unity and determination of the people to resist the aggression of a foreign power. It is arguably the only monument of a kind in the world that commemorates the defence of a parliament and national independence.