| The Jewish poet Moshe Kulbak is one of the most well
known former residents of Vilnius, and his best poems
were written here. In a poem he describes it as a
spiritual city, where neither poverty, nor suffering
cannot conquer the power of idealism. For Kulbak one of
the most prominent symbols of Vilnius was „the water
carrier“:
You are a dark amulet set in
Lithuania.
Old grey writing – mossy, peeling.
Each stone a book; parchment every wall.
Pages turn, secretly open in the night,
As, on the old synagogue, a frozen water carrier,
Small beard tilted, stands counting the stars.
As one of the steps to bring back the Jewish past of
Vilnius, a sculpture of the water carrier will be placed
in the former Vilnius ghetto quarter in Rudninku square.
On the pedestal of the sculpture there will be engraved
7 excerpts of the phrase mentioned above in Lithuanian,
Polish, Yiddish, English, German, Russian and Hebrew
languages.
Vilnius municipality has agreed to provide the place for
the monument, but due to the financial crisis is unable
to cover the costs of the production of the sculpture
and its pedestal. Alternative ways of raising the
necessary funds have to be sought. |