Taking pride of place outside the National Museum since July 6, 2003, the 750th anniversary of the crowning of the country’s one and only king in 1253, Mindaugas (Pol. Mendog, 1200-1263), who’s generally considered to be the founder of the Lithuanian state, was a bit of a character to say the least. Clumsy in his personal affairs and switching from paganism to Catholicism and back to paganism to suit his needs, Mindaugas was eventually assassinated by his nephew and served as little more than a footnote in Lithuanian history until he was resurrected by the national revival movement of the late 19th century. R. Midvikis’ granite likeness of the man sees him sitting on his sostas (throne), from which the Lithuanian language gets its word for capital, sostinė, literally ‘the place where the throne is’.