Both entertaining and educational, the black-humoured Grūtas Park, (aka 'Stalin World') has been an enormous hit since it opened in 2001. The sprawling grounds, built to resemble a concentration camp (complete with loudspeakers bellowing Soviet anthems), feature socialist realist statues of Lenin, Stalin and Lithuanian luminaries and exhibits on Soviet history (with a focus on the oppression of Lithuania). To get there, take bus no 2 from Druskininkai, via Viečiūnai, or drive 8km east to Grūtas village .
The park was the idea of Viliumas Malinauskas, a former collective farm head who made a fortune canning mushrooms then won the loan of the hated objects from the Ministry of Culture. It includes a menagerie (where sad-looking bears pay ironic homage to the gulag archipelago), an adventure playground, a library staffed by eerie mannequins and a restaurant, reminiscent of a Soviet-era canteen, where visitors eat vodka-doused sprats and onions with Soviet-made cutlery.
