Hey guys.
We’re at this tiny, tiny little republic in Lithuania known as Užupis.
And I think it’s actually one of the smallest republics in the entire world.
Yeah, well, it’s less than one square kilometre.
And it’s one of the tiniest republics in the entire world,
though not officially recognized.
It has become a source of real pride for the city of Vilnius
and for everyone who lives here so we’re about to cross this river.
Užupis or Užupis means ‘beyond the river’ so that’s where the name comes from.
And their Independence Day is April 1st.
April Fool’s Day joke?
So we’ll talk more about how this place came to be
but first we have to cross the bridge.
This is the official sign telling you that you’re about to enter Užupis
and there’s two kind of strange things that you don’t normally see on a sign.
One is a smily face and that means that you have to, by Užupis law,
smile while you’re in the republic.
So keep that in mind.
And also, there’s the picture of the Mona Lisa,
meaning that this is a place where art and artists and creativity is very valued.
So, we’ll take that with us and make our way over into Užupis.
No passports required.
However, on April 1st, which like I said is their Independence Day,
you can come when they have their big celebration
and you do need to bring your passport...
well, you can bring your passport
and get a little stamp as you cross the bridge.
Užupis might be small but it has its own president, government, constitution, currency…
even its own navy, which consists of 3 or 4 small boats
that are mostly used for ceremonial purposes.
For a while, they even had ten men who declared they were the army.
But we have actually already found, I think the most famous resident,
citizen of Užupis and that is the mermaid.
This is a sculpture done by an artist
and the citizens in Užupis say that she is actually the one who lures people to Užupis.
And they say that if you look into her eyes, you will never want to leave here so...
proceed with caution with the mermaid.
This little country really began as kind of an April fools joke
that has now taken on a complete life of its own and grown and grown into what it is today.
And one of the founding fathers, shall we say,
said that when they were sitting around talking about this idea,
they wanted to make a little country of no more than say 5000 citizens
because they believe that’s the maximum number of faces
that the human brain can recognize and remember.
And the idea being that when you know everyone in your country,
then you really can’t be manipulated or cheat, and everyone will get along better.
So, make of that what you will.
And I also wanted to show you this statue.
Because the mermaid, of course is very famous, but...
Jesus Backpacker needs to get a shout out.
If you’ve seen anyone whose visited Užupis, probably they have a selfie with Jesus the Backpacker.
The artist says that he believes that Jesus was the very first backpacker
and so now backpackers and lots of tourists who are visiting Vilnius
and then come to Užupis of course, because they’re not the same thing,
come and pay tribute to the first backpacker of them all.
This used to be one of the worst, toughest neighbourhoods in all of Vilnius,
and it was very cheap to live here.
That’s part of what drew so many artists here to take advantage of how cheap it was.
Now, however, this is the most expensive real estate in the whole city.
I just love how it’s like an open-air gallery everywhere you look.
I know.
Everywhere you look there’s artwork like… on every single wall.
Little statues and sculptures and things pasted to trees and pianos…it’s amazing!
It’s all some surface for creativity.
Totally.
Love it.
There’s a little street here where you can find the constitution of Užupis
on more than 30 metal plaques lining this one wall.
And it was written by two men over the course of about three hours on a summer afternoon.
They had just declared themselves an independent republic.
And one of them had a bath and while he was in the bath thought,
‘you know what…we really should write down a constitution’.
So the two of them got together and in a few hours,
probably with some drinks involved I’m guessing, once I read you some of the clauses,
they came up with this constitution.
The constitution has been translated into many languages so we found the English one
and I have to read you some of what it says.
Some of them are quite lovely.
You know, ‘Everyone has the right to love.’
‘Everyone has the right to be happy’.
And then, because it was done by two different men, one a dog person and one a cat person,
these are some of my favourites.
‘Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat’.
‘Everyone has the right to look after the dog until one of them dies’.
‘A dog has the right to be a dog’.
Very important.
‘A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in times of need’.
And perhaps the best one that must be observed,
‘Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation’.
What’s your favourite part of the constitution?
Um…
I really like number 26.
‘Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.’
I choose to celebrate.
The official flag of Užupis has a hand on it with a hole in the middle
making the hand unable to accept bribes.
And the idea is that they have nothing to hide here.
We’re now in the very center… the heart of this great nation
with the symbol of Užupis behind us.
The Angel of Užupis up on this high pedestal in the center square here.
And the word is that there was actually an egg on the top of this very tall pedestal for a long time
and people kept wondering what…what is this?
This is your symbol?
What does this mean?
And the officials of Užupis kept saying, ‘Just wait, wait. Just wait for it.’
And then one day, seemingly overnight, the egg disappeared
and out popped this beautiful angel symbolizing growth and rebirth and creativity
and trumpeting that anything goes here.
So, really a good symbol for this nation.
Here we are back at the bridge, except this time sadly we have to leave Užupis.
I think this is one of my favourite micronations that I’ve ever been to.
Only at 1-square kilometre, it packs a lot of punch.
It does, it does.
And I love that just the overall message here is to be free, be yourself, be creative,
so, good things to remember.
Hopefully you guys have enjoyed looking around here too.
Make sure you give the video a like if you enjoyed it
and subscribe for lots more travel adventures and we’ll see you in our next one.
Bye!