Lithuanian Independence Monument in Salakas
Memorial site

The Lithuanian Independence Monument in Salakas was unveiled on September 28, 1930, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Vytautas the Great and the 1918–1920 Independence Struggles. The author of the monument is a professional sculptor Maksas Farbmanas, and the construction work of the monument was carried out by Petras Jasinavičius-Silvo. The monument consists of a foundation, a rectangular pedestal, on which an obelisk is placed, tapering upwards. Figures of a boy with a torch and a woman are sculpted near it. During the unveiling and consecration ceremony of the monument, oak trees were planted near the monument, named “The Oak of the Leader of the Nation” and “The Oak of Vilnius”. The latter oak has survived to this day. The place for the monument was not chosen by chance, because during the Independence Struggles of 1918–1920. there was a cemetery for volunteer soldiers near the monument. During the Soviet occupation, the national sculpture and decorative elements were plastered over, but were restored in 1988.