Sculpture “Putamarė”
Coordinates: 55.717210 21.134539
Object address: Simono Daukanto street 33 / Salomėjos Nėries street 2, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Municipality: Klaipėda
Decorative sculpture “Putamarė” was created for the hotel „Pamarys“, but now it is moved to another place. It stands near the house at the intersection of S. Daukanto ir S. Nėries streets. The author of the sculpture – Žymantė Jonuškaitė.
Marė – troublemaker of diseases and epidemics, Goddess of the plague. It is likely that she is the image of Medieval superstitions. Lithuanians impeded the spread of epidemics covering with towels the highway leading to the village. Women had to spin yarns and weave towel overnight. (Kavaliauskas S., Klimka L. Senovės lietuvių Deivės ir Dievai. Panevėžys, 2000). Girl of plague – the mythological being, walking in the village during plague. It is imagined as a woman dressed in white clothes. Marė – the negative aspect of Happiness, a mythical expression of community‘s misfortune. (Mažosios Lietuvos enciklopedija. Vilnius, 2003, p. 74). It could be argued that Putamarė – the transformed mythological personage, seducer virgin of lagoon, visible between tracery of foams.