January Uprising Wooden Cross Monument - Vilnius, Lithuania (Lietuva)

The January Uprising, as it is known in Poland, was a failed attempt to restore the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, most of which had been under the Russia rule since 1795. The uprising started in January 1863 among young Polish conscripts and spread across the lands of present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, involving both the peasantry and landed gentry.

It was the longest-lasting insurgency in the post-partition Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but was eventually crushed by the Tsar's forces by summer 1864. Many of its leaders were sentenced and executed in Lukiškės Square in Vilnius.

For one and a half centuries, historians had been wondering what happened to the remains of the executed leaders. They were discovered two years ago, during fortification works on Gediminas Hill.

The twenty unearthed remains were confirmed to include Konstanty Kalinowski (or Konstantinas Kalinauskas, as he is known in Lithuanian) and Zygmunt Sierakowski (or Zigmantas Sierakauskas).

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