An unusual monument to Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Radziwiłł has been unveiled in Vilnius

One of the most famous love stories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has been immortalized.

In Vilnius, the community of the Wróblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, together with honored guests, solemnly unveiled a new sculptural composition, “Sigismund and Barbara”, commemorating one of the most famous historical legends of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, reports Made in Vilnius.

The author of the new work is the renowned Lithuanian sculptor Gediminas Pėkuras, while the project was designed by architect Aušra Gvildienė. Pėkuras’s project won a creative competition in 2024. The opening ceremony began symbolically—with a song by Icelandic singer Björk, “Ancestress,” released in 2024, in which the singer describes a place where she communicates with the women of her lineage, saying: “My skull is my cathedral.”