Vilnius City municipality has announced its plans to remove the Frank Zappa monument [1] from its original location because of the construction of a new attachment to the clinic [2]. All ensemble of F.Zappa monument will be destroyed and the monument will be moved to other space of the city, which is already criticized by specialists. F.Zappa monument is a symbol of freedom, described widely in newspapers and academic works. It was the first monument built after the restoration of the independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union. "A symbol that would mark the end of communism" - writes Eric Heinze, a scholar of the Queen Mary University of London, School of Law [3]. It is one of the tourist's attractions in the city and its copy was delivered to Baltimore, the hometown of F.Zappa.[8]

Matilda Dahl dedicates one chapter of its doctoral thesis called "Epilogue In the name of democracy; or the story of Frank Zappa in Vilnius". She quotes an interview with the founder of the monument:

"Never mind free and fair elections, independent judiciaries or respect for ethnic minorities, a country can only really be declared democratic if its leaders are big enoughto allow the erection of a monument to the late, lamented Frank Zappa. Saulius Paukstys as quoted by Bridge, 1991"[4]

"Since Lithuania broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991 a plethora of empty plinths previously occupied by statues of Lenin, Marx and local representatives of the socialist revolution have dotted the landscape. In the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius a civil servant, Saulius Paukstys, commissioned a local sculptor to design a statue of Frank Zappa for the city centre because “We were desperate to find a symbol that would mark an end to communism, but at the same time express that it wasn’t all doom and gloom” (Guardian, 29 January 2000, p. 2)" [5]

"At the time, Zappa himself was all but unknown in the hearts and minds of Lithuania’s three million citizens, but thanks to the actions of the artists of the Frank Zappa Fan Club, he quickly became a central symbol of Lithuanian independence." writes INGA UNTIKS in the journal "Spaces of Identity"[6].

"They tore down Lenin's statue - and raised one to Frank Zappa" - the title of The Guardian [7].

The intellectuals and supporters of the F.Zappa monument have started protest in 2019, also prepared a petition, which was backed by 850+ supporters[9], but it had no luck. The commission, led by the main architect of the Vilnius City Municipality, have dismissed the projects which wanted to save the ensemble and square of F.Zappa's monument and selected the one, which will destroy it.[10,11]

BY SIGNING THIS PETITION WE EXPRESS OUR DISAGREEMENT TO DESTROY THE UNIQUE ENSEMBLE AND SQUARE OF FRANK ZAPPA IN VILNIUS

References

1. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g274951-d290794-Reviews-Frank_Zappa_Statue-Vilnius_Vilnius_County.html

2. https://citify.eu/centro-poliklinikos-priestatas/

3. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2797238&fbclid=IwAR0IsckN4ULtHe382kwyw9k066zYg_YvwVddAHJrfHGi2nTYFnumUOHBX6s

4. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:197063/FULLTEXT01.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3DMJMn_0ddE28jb3K5OkHvVChvDEvn1nEjwNHqXGNhSoxQzsjsjRwpFCg

5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305748800902883?fbclid=IwAR18WL0EX0A-PJTsYoF0rvcJFnlu51pNKVgi-HiS31_M09XCvIEjiUiBN78

6. https://soi.journals.yorku.ca/.../download/18122/16896

7. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2000/jan/29/lithuania

8. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/may/09/news

9. https://www.peticijos.lt/visos/75687/apginkime-frank-zappa-skvera-vilniuje-nuo-brutaliu-abejotinos-architekturos-intervenciju/

10. http://www.architektusajunga.lt/konkursai/centro-poliklinikos-priestato-konkursui-pateikti-6-projektai/

11. https://www.delfi.lt/kultura/naujienos/vilniaus-centro-poliklinikos-priestato-konkursa-laimejo-ambraso-biuras.d?id=88357007