Man! Nose up! Or at least an ear… I’m up here. It’s nice that you’re interested, of course, but it’s going to be difficult to communicate, I can see. So listen very carefully.

I’m the oldest person in the harbour – I’ve been standing here for about 50 years, looking down on the city from on high. I was hoisted up several metres by the tide to keep an eye on the city’s fishermen; How did I get here, you ask? Ah, it’s a complicated story, sit down. Look, dear man, at my left side. This bright, ornate building is the current Town Hall. When the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte conquered almost all of Prussia, the capital was briefly moved from Berlin to Klaipėda, and the bright, magnificent Klaipėda Town Hall became the temporary residence of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. I tell you, it was the most beautiful classical building in the whole city then! It was soon rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style – as you can see it with your own eyes. But that’s not to say that the townspeople have a lot to be proud of – this historic building was the site of the signing of the Edict of October, which proclaimed the abolition of serfdom throughout the duchy;

A century later, the Borgia Monument was erected on the spot where I am now sick to commemorate the victory over Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Borusia was a woman of great beauty… sumptuous antique clothes, a great Roman helmet on her head. She reminds me a bit of the Greek goddess Athena – great, wise, but very warlike – a true symbol of Prussia. In 1923, Lithuanian rebels fighting for the annexation of the Klaipėda region took down the monument of the beautiful woman and transported it to the courtyard of the Town Hall; In the late 1930s, as nationalist sentiments among local Germans intensified, it was rebuilt again; Borusia disappeared during the Second World War, and I took her place later.

1958 m. I got my bronze body, but the work stopped there – I didn’t take my place until 13 years later. I spent five years in a workshop in Vilnius, then another seven hiding in the courtyard of the port city; Patvory! Therefore, I don’t complain about my current situation – I count the number of visitors who pass by me on the waterfront, I refresh the children in the fountain on a hot summer afternoon.

And most importantly, I can see every morning whether the Mayor is doing his job properly; I’ll tell you a secret – I keep hoping that I can catch him being late and discipline him, but I haven’t managed to do it once yet.