Alytus renovates partisan memorial and opens new columbarium

The Alytus City Municipality has officially presented and consecrated a renovated memorial space for the Dainava region partisans and a new columbarium at the Daugų Street cemetery.

The project aimed to restore the historical Dainava region partisan memorial, which had fallen into disrepair over three decades. The original site featured 476 cenotaphs—symbolic monuments for those whose graves are unknown—but many had become illegible due to weather and vegetation.

Mayor Nerijus Cesiulis noted that while some monuments were beyond repair, the initiative ensures a respectful and modern environment for honoring freedom fighters. The site now serves both as a place of remembrance for the approximately 2,000 people who died in the Dainava region during the resistance and as a functional columbarium for the interment of urns.