- Place
- Šakiai District Municipality
- Region
- Suvalkija
- Type
- small-town sculpture park formed from a 1991 design with a pond, fountains, field boulders, an artificial mound, and Lithuanian folk art
- Address
- A. Tatarė Street, Lukšiai, Šakiai District Municipality
- Coordinates
- 54.94828, 23.17462
- Visit duration
- 45-60 minutes for the pond, sculptures, and Millennium Gate circuit; up to 1.5 hours to examine the works and adjoining public spaces in the town centre
- Best time
- late May to September, when flower beds bloom and the fountains may operate; residents gather at the gate to sing the anthem on the evening of 6 July
Lukšių parkas, Siesarties vingio parkas, Siesarties vingio parkelis, Lukšiai Park, Siesartis Riverbend Park
The Google listing Lukšiai Park and Siesartis Riverbend Park are the same place
The park lies in central Lukšiai on the southern side of A. Tatarė Street. Google Maps calls the entry Lukšių parkas and places it at 54.9482829, 23.1746152, while the official town album and municipal documents use the fuller name Siesartis Riverbend Park. Both names refer to one place, not two separate parks.
Although compact, it is not arranged around one straight path. Routes descend towards water, rise onto the constructed mound, and weave among boulders, flower beds, clipped plant forms, and sculptures. The tallest landmark, a white gateway topped by three forged metal sun-images, remains visible from different parts of the grounds and provides an easy point of orientation.
Do not confuse the park with the 21 ha grounds of Zypliai Manor outside town or with the Lukšiai reservoir near Ežero Street. The official album separately notes that the larger reservoir, where people walk along the banks and fish, lies several hundred metres from the centre. The water in Riverbend Park is a smaller part of its designed landscape.
A 1991 project transformed marshy ground left by the river into a designed landscape
The official Lukšiai album states that the Siesartis formerly meandered through the present park area. A study by the Council for the Safeguarding of Ethnic Culture describes the pre-park site as a marshy clearing. When the landscape scheme prepared in 1991 was implemented, a pond was excavated, boulders were brought from nearby fields, paths were formed, and fountains installed.
The water visible today is consequently not a surviving natural bend in the open Siesartis channel. It is a constructed pond occupying a former river and wetland setting, while the river's name preserves a memory of the earlier landscape. This is best understood as landscape architecture rather than a natural river habitat or hydrological nature trail.
The scheme also provided a Newlyweds' Table and a mound that the official album calls a hillfort. It is a modern compositional feature, not an archaeological hillfort or ancient settlement protected in the Cultural Heritage Register. The municipality's 2019 proposal explicitly recorded that the Lukšiai centre sites concerned did not fall within heritage, reserve, regional-park, or Natura 2000 boundaries.
The community, Vidas Cikana, and Zyplių žiogai workshop artists shaped the park
The ethnic-culture study names Vidas Cikana, a wood and stone sculptor and folk artist resident in Lukšiai since 1981, as the conceptual author. It also stresses the role of the local community and artists who returned for workshops. The park is therefore more than a one-off municipal planting scheme: its collection expanded through creative gatherings and local initiative.
From 2003 Cikana was one of the organisers of the Zyplių žiogai annual folk-art workshop at Zypliai Manor. Some of the resulting pieces were adapted to Riverbend Park, where stone and wooden figures, forged details, and works incorporating field boulders form an open and gradually changing ensemble.
Reliable titles, dates, and creators have not been published for every sculpture. The 2015 study itself identified this documentation gap and listed Vidas Cikana and other artists collectively without naming them all. Individual figures should not be titled or attributed from appearance alone; on-site labels and specifically documented records are the soundest guide.
The Gate to the Next Millennium rises 8 m and weighs more than 12 tonnes
The concrete-and-metal Gate to the Next Millennium was ceremonially unveiled on the artificial mound on 24 July 2009. Blacksmith Vladas Kuzinas donated three large forged sun-images, and Vidas Cikana designed the overall monument. Their contributions are distinct: the sun-images are Kuzinas's work, while the gate composition is Cikana's.
Stylised white crosses form the openings, a vertical element carries the colours of Lithuania's tricolour, and the three forged sun-images rise above the structure. The officially published dimensions are 8 m high and 6 m wide, with a weight exceeding 12 tonnes. Its meaning marks passage into the second millennium of Lithuania's recorded name, tying the work to the country's 2009 millennium commemoration.
The gate became a civic gathering place as well as a visual marker. Residents traditionally meet here on 6 July to sing Lithuania's national anthem, and the Šakiai municipal calendar listed the event here again in 2026. Expect people and event equipment rather than an empty photo setting on that evening.
A later public-space project connected the park with the wider A. Tatarė Street centre
A 2019 project survey already recorded formed water bodies, a path network, a volleyball court, an outdoor toilet, and changing cabins in Siesartis Riverbend Park. These were existing facilities, not merely promised additions. The same document planned a much broader renewal across several separate plots along A. Tatarė Street.
The official EU investment record for the completed scheme reports 50,325.28 sq m of renewed open space across Lukšiai. It delivered a pedestrian and cycle connection, renewed paths and lighting, benches, bins, parking, a children's play area, bridges, and two public toilets. This list covers the entire project corridor, so it would be inaccurate to place every item inside the sculpture park itself.
The eldership's 2026 work plan provides for continued flower planting and maintenance, new edging around Riverbend Park paths and beds, and repainting fountain railings beside the Lukšiai cultural centre. These are works planned for the year, not proof that every item is complete on a particular visit date. Temporary maintenance may alter the normal route.
The park is free and open around the clock, while fountains and amenities remain seasonal
Google Maps lists Lukšiai Park as open 24 hours, and there is no admission ticket. On 13 July 2026, its entry had 115 reviews averaging 4.7 out of 5. This smaller total belongs specifically to the park and should not be combined with reviews for Zypliai Manor, the Lukšiai reservoir, or other nearby attractions.
The fountains are seasonal outdoor equipment, and no daily operating timetable is published. Two public toilets were created within the wider A. Tatarė Street public-space network, but current opening hours are not stated, so visitors should not assume they are always unlocked. Shops and other basic services are available in the town centre.
The lower principal areas can be reached along level or gently graded paths, but the mound, steps, narrower stone sections, and mixed surfaces are not equally convenient for wheelchairs. Official sources present the pond as a landscape feature rather than a bathing place, so do not plan to swim or fish here. Leave vehicles only in marked central spaces, never on paths or grass.
