Born Jonas Mačiulis in Šiluva about 100km northwest of Kaunas, Lithuania’s most famous poet, Maironis (1862-1932)  was also a priest and active member of the Lithuanian National Revival movement whose nationalist sentiments made him not too popular with the Soviets who had to be hoodwinked into allowing this monument to go up at all. Unveiled in 1977 and the work of the sculptor Gediminas Jokūbonis (1927-2006), the granite statue of Maironis in religious garb was made from photographs of the man and is interesting in that it features no cross and that the poet's arm is positioned so as to cover his dog collar.