As the Remembrance Day approaches, the Biržiški family cemetery has been cleaned up. The February 16th Act signatory Mykolas Biržiška, his wife Bronislava Šēmytė-Biržiškienė, and brothers Vaclav and Viktor Biržiški, who were ceremoniously reburied in the Rasa cemetery, are commemorated with the tombstone "Kelias".
The author of the project, sculptor Mindaugas Junčys, created a separate tombstone for each family member, highlighting their individuality as personalities with varying heights and widths of the tombstone slabs, different angles of inclination of the slab, and different plants.
"Each person has a separate 'path'. It starts from the ground with a rather roughly worked stone, continues with a free-form, dynamic silhouette and passes through the "blooming" zone, rises to the top, where it takes on a clearer and more concrete form. Here the surface of the stone becomes polished: clear and stable. It starts from the ground and ends in the sky. At the beginning of the path, there is more uncertainty and freedom, but also more dynamics and drive. And at the end of the road, everything seems to become clearer, more stable. This is reflected by the appearing straight lines, more processed stone", the author explains the idea.
M. Biržiška's gravesite is also marked by the granite sign of the Signatory, which became part of the "Kelias" monument. Such signs adorn all the graves of the signatories of the February 16th Act.
The project for the preparation of the cemetery was selected in the summer, after the Lithuanian National Museum announced an open tender. The commemoration and arrangement of the cemetery cost 48 thousand. euros. The funds were allocated by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
The descendants of the Biržiškis family supported the idea of the cemetery renovation project, the monument is planned to be consecrated in the summer of next year, when they will be able to come to Lithuania JAV living relatives.
Signatory of the Act of Independence of Lithuania, historian of Lithuanian culture and literature Mykolas Biržiška (1882-1962) and members of his family - wife Bronislava Šėmytė-Biržiškienė (1879-1955), brothers Vaclovas (1884-1956) and Viktoras Biržiškas (1886-1964) in Rasai cemetery Ceremonially reburied in Vilnius in 2018. July 11
Photo: Laima Penek 
Photo: Laima Penek 
Photo: Laima Penek
