Šiauliai Turns 790: A Story of the City and Light at the Sundial Square

On 10 September 2026 at 9:00 PM, the Sundial Square will become a living narrative of Šiauliai history. Created especially for the anniversary city festival “Šiauliai Days 790”, the artistic event “Geometry of Light” will bring together live music, choreography, light, historical images of the city and contemporary visual technologies. Unfolding around one of the most important symbols of the City of the Sun, this story of rhythm, movement and imagery will invite audiences not merely to observe the history of Šiauliai from the outside, but to step inside it – to a place where the past meets the present and the story of one person becomes the story of an entire city.

The narrative of rhythm, movement and imagery in Šiauliai is being created by director Dalius Abaris, scriptwriter Mindaugas Nastaravičius and choreographer Aušra Krasauskaitė. According to the creators, their main aim is not so much to tell the story of the Battle of Saule, the beginnings of the city or its present day, but rather to connect it with the story of the Sun and light itself – an endless movement and eternal rhythm, with different Clocks revolving around the same axis.

“We are telling the story of Saulė and the Sun. Why do I mention not one, but two Suns? Because this story will also feature a specific person – a young woman named Saulė, for whom Šiauliai is not just any city. What revolves in her memory gradually sets the history of the entire city in motion, and with it, the present day as well. Through movement and rhythm, we will tell a story of closeness and distance – of the geometry of movement, as light travels between different periods of time, yet within the same City of the Sun,” says the event’s concept creator, director Dalius Abaris.

Sound, rhythm and movement will be brought to this story by multi-instrumentalist Saulius Petreikis, percussionist Gintautas Gascevičius and a rhythm section, electronic music creators “Happyendless”, the dance troupe of the State Ensemble “Lietuva”, Šiauliai city arts groups and the wider city community. Musicians, dancers, sound, lighting and visual graphics artists will become part of one continuous movement, while the performance they create around the Sundial will bring together the city of memory and the city of the present.

“The city’s 790-year history is not only what we can read in chronicles or see in old photographs. It lives in people – in their memories, family stories, choices and in the city we create every day. ‘Geometry of Light’ does not leave the past frozen in time – it sets it in motion and allows it to meet the present. We want people that evening not only to watch the spectacle, but also to feel that they themselves are a continuation of this 790-year history. Because a city is not a finished story – every generation adds its own time, its own work and its own light,” says Deimantė Bačiulė, Director of the Šiauliai Cultural Centre.

That evening, the past will truly be set in motion. Historical photographs of Šiauliai, capturing the everyday lives of its residents, the city’s growth, industrial development and people of different generations, will merge with images of imagination and personal memory. The shadows preserved in the photographs will seem to step out of frozen time and join the professional dancers, musicians and city residents moving around the Sundial. In this way, different periods in the history of Šiauliai will meet in a single space, while what has remained in memory will become part of the living city of today.

The scale of the narrative will be enhanced by a stage design created especially for the Sundial Square. The column with the Archer sculpture at its centre will become the axis around which an almost 9-metre-high cylindrical stage structure will rise, consisting of twelve three-storey towers symbolising time. Part of the structure will be covered with a special openwork transparent screen, where historical images of the city, visual graphics created especially for the event and live footage capturing the performers’ emotions will merge. The first and third levels of the structure will be dedicated to choreographic movement, while the second will accommodate a group of performers playing acoustic, electronic, classical and exotic percussion instruments.

The entire Sundial Square will become a 360-degree stage, allowing the spectacle to be experienced from different sides of the square. Light will follow the directions of movement, creating reflections and luminous “crown” effects, while historical imagery, live music, choreography and the movement of city residents will merge into one constantly changing composition. The audience will not remain simply in front of the stage – they themselves will be able to find themselves surrounded by the story.

Organised by the Šiauliai Cultural Centre. Admission is free.

The full programme is available on the websites of Šiauliai City Municipality, the Šiauliai Cultural Centre and Šiauliai Celebrates.

For further information, please contact Edita Smindriūnaitė, Head of the Exhibitions Department at the Šiauliai Cultural Centre, mobile +370 656 13 886, email edita.smindriunaite@siauliukc.lt.

Photos by Rolandas Parafinavičius and Darius Ančerevičius