After Lithuania regained its independence, in 1989–1991 many ideological Soviet-era monuments were dismantled and, with no rules in place for their storage, lay piled up in warehouses and yards, mostly on the premises of municipal utility companies. “Stored” like this, many monuments were damaged (some during dismantling, others were spotted by scrap-metal dealers, and so on), and in time they could have been destroyed altogether, as happened in neighbouring republics. There were various opinions and proposals about the fate of the dismantled Soviet sculptures. Destroy them? Preserve them? In 1998 a competition announced by the Ministry of Culture to set up an exhibition of dismantled Soviet-era monumental sculptures was won by the public body “Hesonos klubas”, based in Grūtas near Druskininkai. A strong argument was that its head, Viliumas Malinauskas, planned to create the exhibition using private funds from the family's mushroom and berry business, without asking the state for financial support. The project submitted to the competition also emphasised the importance of a new tourist attraction for the development of this region of southern Lithuania. Work on the exhibition began in early 1999. Grūtas Park officially opened on 1 April 2001. OUTDOOR EXHIBITION The exhibition is intended to let the people of Lithuania, visitors to the country and future generations see Soviet ideology laid bare – the ideology that for many decades oppressed and wounded the spirit of our nation. MUSEUMS This is living documentary evidence of how Soviet policy was carried out with sophisticated military, political, ideological, artistic and other means, how crimes were concealed and how their perpetrators were glorified. MINI ZOO Younger visitors are also very drawn to the residents of the park's mini zoo – birds and small animals. AMUSEMENT PARK The park's youngest visitors will find plenty to do here too. At the playground (a Soviet-era amusement park) children enjoy riding the merry-go-rounds and find it fun to imagine what rides their parents or grandparents played on, and how.