History & Design:

The garden design is in the form of a lyre. It extends from East Boulevard to MLK Jr. Drive across three levels. The East Boulevard level is set off from the lower levels by a beautiful serpentine balustrade.

Statuary/Busts/Reliefs/Monuments:

Fountain of Birutè (died 1382). Birute was a Grand Duchess of Lithuania and the mother of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great (1350 – 1430), one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania and revered as a national hero. The fountain is located in the center of the East Boulevard level between the busts of Kudirka and Maironis.

Dr. Vincas Kudirka (1858 – 1899). Kudirka was a physician, poet, writer, critic, translator and the author of the Lithuanian national anthem and its music. He was an editor of a clandestine newspaper, Varpas (the Bell), and was active in the Lithuanian national rebirth.

Maironis (1862 – 1932). Maironis was a renown Romantic poet, Roman Catholic priest, seminary lector and literature professor. He was active in the Lithuanian revival that led to the re-establishment of the independent Lithuanian state.

Dr. Jonas Basanavičius (1851 – 1927). He was named “Patriarch of the Nation” for his prominent efforts toward the independence of Lithuania. He is the founder of the first Lithuanian language newspaper and author of 40 works on Lithuanian literature, ethnography, folklore, history and linguistics.

Pillars of Gediminas. Trident in shape, the pillars were used as the earliest symbol of Lithuania. Flanking the pillars are the words Lithuanian and Garden, separately framed with a Lithuanian folk motif of repeating squares. Gediminas (1275 -1341) was the founder of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and a dynasty which ruled Lithuania for almost 300 years.