Sights in Šiauliai
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Zokniai Military Airfield
In Soviet times this airfield with two 3.5km-long and 45m-wide runways - large enough to land a space shuttle - was the USSR's biggest military base outside Russia, used to defend its western border. The last of its 55,000 troops based here left in 1993, and since 2004 the Lithuanian air base has been used by NATO forces to patrol Baltic skies.
Guided tours take you around the airfield, built in 1935 and much of it in a shocking state of crumbling disrepair after 10 years of abandonment. Many of the 50 or so Soviet aircraft hangars once housing MiG-29 fighters remain, as do the subterranean command post, sturdy enough to survive nuclear attack, and the fuel reserves, a lu…
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Hill of Crosses
This 'Mecca of Lithuania' - thousands upon thousands of crosses on a hillock - has inspired countless pilgrimages.
Large and tiny, expensive and cheap, wood and metal, the crosses are devotional, to accompany prayers, or finely carved folk-art masterpieces. Others are memorials, tagged with flowers, a photograph or other mementoes in memory of the deceased, and inscribed with a sweet or sacred message. Traditional Lithuanian koplytstulpis (wooden sculptures of a figure topped with a little roof) intersperse the crosses, as do magnificent sculptures of the Sorrowful Christ (Rūpintojėlis). Should you wish to add your own, souvenir traders in the car park sell crosses big an…
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Monastery
An alternative view of the Hill of Crosses is from inside the chapel of the modern brick Monastery. Home to 10 Franciscan monks, it was built behind the hill between 1997 and 2000 - allegedly upon the wishes of John Paul II who said he wished to see a place of prayer following after his visit in 1993.
Behind the altar in the church, the striking backdrop through the ceiling-to-floor window of the Hill of Crosses in place of a traditional crucifix is breathtaking; Italian architect Angelo Polesello designed it.
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SS Peter & Paul's Cathedral
SS Peter & Paul's Cathedral, overlooking Priskėlimo aikštė, was constructed between 1595 and 1625 from the proceeds of the sale of four-year-old bulls donated by local farmers. It has a 75m spire - Lithuania's second highest - and legend says the hillock it stands on was created from sand and dust which blew over a dead ox that wandered into Šiauliai, sat down and died.
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Sundial
A distinctive city landmark is the mammoth Sundial, topped by a bronze statue of an archer in what has become known as 'Sundial Square'. It was built in 1986 to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the Battle of Saulė (1236), the battle in which local Samogitians defeated the Knights of the Sword and founded the town.
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Bicycle Museum
Bone-jolting wood and iron bicycles without tyres stand next to orange and pink communal bikes introduced by Vilnius City Municipality in the late 1990s (they were stolen within days) and mean speed machines made by Lithuania's biggest bicycle manufacturer, Šiauliai-based Balti Vairas (Black Panther).
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St George's Church
St George's Church was built for the local Russian garrison in 1909 but is Catholic today.
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