Like all large cities, Vilnius has districts and one of these districts on the edge of the old town is called Užupis [1]. This is a special district, the name means "beyond the river" (už = behind, upė = river). The river is the Vilnia, which gave the city of Vilnius its name. Užupis is a small suburb. But it is a special suburb. In the past, it was mostly inhabited by Jews. Bridges were only built in the 16th century. Now love locks hang on the bridges into this suburb. The Jewish population perished during the Shoah (the 23rd of September is Holocaust Memorial Day). The Jewish cemetery was destroyed by the Soviets and later during the collapse of the Soviet Union the vacant houses were occupied by criminals, homeless people and prostitutes. After the declaration of independence in 1990, this district was one of the most neglected in the city. Many houses had neither electricity nor sanitary facilities at the time, but it was also an artists' colony. The bohemians, so to speak, moved there and now art galleries, small shops and cafés have been established there. Užupis may be compared with Montmartre in Paris or the Free City of Christiania in Copenhagen. The local population is now being displaced and gentrification has set in. It has now become a trendy district and tourist attraction. And that's how I got there.
The first thing that interested me was the phenomenon of love locks, which I know not only from Cologne; I have reported on these several times [2]. I will write a separate blog post about the love locks I've seen on the entire trip. There is also a Constitution of the Republic of Užupis. After independence, a Republic of Užupis was jokingly proclaimed and a constitution was given to it. This constitution contains very interesting rights and duties, which I will come to in a moment. I was also fascinated by references to Tibet. There is the Tibet Square there, where you can see prayer flags and Tibetan writing, as well as a pavilion painted with Tibetan motifs.
The Užupis Constitution [3] interested me immediately, as others already had interested me. For example, there is the Cologne Basic Law [4] of my hometown, which has 11 articles, as the number eleven is important for Cologne: 11 flames for the 11,000 virgins in the coat of arms, or 11/11 at 11.11 a.m., when the carnival season begins. It says something like: §3: It has always gone well so far. Or §11: You'll laugh yourself silly. Another example are the Laws of the House of God [5], which include: “At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse. / The patient is the one with the disease.” These Laws of the House of God have played a role in my professional life. Because even if they are humorous formulations, there is a true and serious core; it can best be described as applied wisdom. The same is true of the Užupis Constitution, some of whose articles particularly appealed to me:
Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
Everyone has the right to be unique.
Everyone has the right to idle.
Everyone has the right to be happy.
Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
And many more. There are 41, but in my opinion there should have been 42 [6], but nobody asks me.
Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis and https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis
[2] Love Locks of Cologne and elsewhere https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2017/07/love-locks-of-cologne-and-elsewhere.html
[3] https://uzhupisembassy.eu/uzhupis-constitution/
[4] https://www.frueh.de/frueh-erleben/typ-koeln/das-koelsche-grundgesetz/
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God
[6] Zweiundvierzig (42) [1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/01/zweiundvierzig-42-1.html
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