We are five brave and very diverse studentsfrom Lithuania,aiming to travel to Baikal in order to fulfill our vision and to document the journey in a series of films titled “Lithuania, Siberia and Dreams”.
In the period of 1941 and 1945-1953 when Lithuania was under occupation by the Soviet Union, a large number of Lithuanians were deported to Siberia. Families were often splitapart and people were forced to work hard and under extreme conditions. They dreamed of returning to Lithuania, but were not allowed.
Having grown up in an independent country with all the stories about Siberia and their countrymen in exile,the young generation of Lithuanians are dreaming of visiting Siberia. Quitemany have (great) grandparents or relatives, who came back from Siberia.
We want to find out for ourselves the true history and to show that it can be not only lamented but also explored, discovered and understood.
Beside the mission to question different views about Lithuania, national identity and ways to be patriotic, we also have a lot of other dreams.
The main ones would be:
1. The Dream to Visit Ignateva Cave
The Ignatievka Cave (Ignateva cave, Ignatievskaya cave, Игнатьевская пещера, Yamazy-Tash) – with its portal situated about 12m high from the bottom of the valley, in the slope of the canyon of the river Sim – is situated in Ural mountains. The paintings from 14.000 - 13.000 BP in the deep cave were discovered 1980. It is regarded by archaeologists as a Paleolithic sanctuary, although radiocarbon dating of the pigments in the paintings places their origin more recently, 7370±50 BP.
2. The Dreams of Lithuanians left in Siberia
We’ll visit the town of Barnaul near Novosibirsk, because it is exactly 70 years since first Lithuanians were brought here in cattle-trucks against their will. We wish to see for ourselves how do Lithuanian people live in Siberia, what are the differences between us and them, find out the real story behind their journey, share our ideas about Lithuania, patriotism; clean and take care of the graves.
3. The Dream to talk with Kids
We want visit the orphanagein Irkutsk and introduce Lithuania to them, teach them a few songs, generate ideas together and share not only souvenirs, but plain and warm contact and communication as well.
4. The Dream to drive around the Baikal
We’ll try to driveas near as we can along the shores of Baikal lake in order to observe the outstanding banks, rich in swamps, gills and springs.
5. The Dream to get to the top
Finally, we want to raise the Lithuanian flag on the Munku-Sardyk peak in the Sayan mountain chain, 3,491 metres above the sea level.
The journey is 13,000 km in total: ~5,400 km from Vilnius to Irkutsk, ~2,200 km around the lake Baikal and the journey back to Vilnius (another 5,200 km).
It is a bit of an extreme journey as there will be lots of off-roading and driving onunpaved roads with nothing more than mud and dirt.
We dream to show and prove that the dreams can be fulfilled.
Additional information can be found inhttp://destinationbaikal.blogspot.com/
