What is the theme of Lithuania pavilion?
Our theme is discover Lithuania from the hot air balloon. This theme is chosen because Lithuania is a small country. We think that the visitors of this expo must know Lithuania as a country and discover Lithuania. The theme hot air balloon is chosen because Vilnius our capital is the only European capital where you can really take off with the hot air balloon; in other European capital it is not possible or not allowed. Lithuania is having the biggest amount of the hot air balloons in the world.
?K M Rehan Salahuddin (Editor, Sortofopinion.com) Indre Kumpikeviciute (Pavilion Director), Romas Jankauskas (Commissioner General) M Clarence (Writer,Sortofopinion.com) |
How did you incorporate the theme of Lithuania Pavilion into your design?
The theme hot air balloon is well incorporated in our pavilion. We have a very big, and may be the biggest hot air balloon in the world is placed in our pavilion. A real hot air balloon of this size can take off with 200 people.
What are some other eye-catching elements in the pavilion?
We have something to offer to all kinds of visitors. When you go inside the pavilion there is a statue of modern art and this was built specially for the expo in Lithuania. It symbolizes the balance between nature and human and also symbolizes the balance between man and woman. One foot of this statue is man's foot and the other one is woman's foot. The artist wanted to say that everything is possible if man and woman are together. The statue is a interactive part of our pavilion. The next thing we have is the information wall, where we show about our history and fact. We have 8 info terminals with touch screen. We also have an original wish stone. This magical wish stone is from our capital. We have a replica of the plane that is four times smaller than the original one. You know that basketball is our second religion and we have a basketball corner in our pavilion, where visitors can try to basket the ball and can get a souvenir. In 1933 two heroes of our country had built a plane and they flew from America to Lithuania. It ended very dramatically as they crash landed on Germany. After this effort the air postal service was introduced as people found that the Atlantic can be crossed with an air plane.
Lithuania Pavilion |
Could you tell us how you have been promoting the Lithuania Pavilion, both in China and back home in the Lithuania?
We are trying to notify the most common things and interesting things that the visitors already know about us. As we are much known as a basketball country, we are offering activities related basketball. We are also having cultural activities. At our national day we made 10000 paper crowns and every visitor were crowned. Meadville warrior battle is another great activity what we have offered. There were four guys who performed more than 100 battles with very authentic clothes and arms.
How long it would take for a common visitor to see around the pavilion?
Our pavilion has a lot of attractive things and visitors may go in a circle and read or observe the staffs. It doesn't take a long time to finish the total tour in the pavilion. But if anybody wants to interact at all the possible interactive zones then it may take more than 20 minutes.
How enthusiastic the people of Lithuania about the Expo?
Lithuanian people are always very criticizing. They always complain about many things. But when Lithuanian people come and visit us in this expo they feel nice about China. They understand that China is a very important country for Lithuania and could be more important with more interactivity. Expo in China is the biggest expo ever and very successful.
What do you think the youth should learn from this Expo?
The youth should learn a lot of culture and they can learn that even if we have some conflicts or disagreements between countries we are still having a bonding between us.