Look closely at Romanas Kazlauskas’s sculpture The Past. What does its shape remind you of? It is an archaeological battle axe, only magnified many times over.

On the several-metre-high stone surface, we see the figure of a warrior. In his right hand, he holds a sword; his left hand rests against a shield. This is the glorious past of the Lithuanian nation.

At the base of the sculpture, the hollow opening represents the socket where the axe handle would once have been fixed. Left empty, it may also serve as a symbol – by knowing the past, we are invited to glimpse the future.