A bronze bust of Frank Zappa stands on a street in the Žirmūnai district, north of the city centre, looking slightly bemused by the whole situation. Vilnius's Zappa fan club erected it in 1995 as a post-Soviet statement: the decision to commemorate an irreverent American rock musician in place of a Lenin statue was a deliberate act of cultural self-determination.
The bust is an exact copy of one in Vilniaus — the only known authorised replica, since Zappa's family approved the project. It is somewhat out of the way but attracts a steady stream of pilgrims who seem genuinely moved by what is, on the surface, a fairly absurd monument. The surrounding neighbourhood is ordinary Soviet-era residential, which makes the bust all the more incongruous and somehow all the more appealing.