It is not entirely clear who the author of the monument was. Usually we are informed that the work was entrusted to the artist-sculptor, professor of Stefan Batory University, Bolesław Bałzukiewicz. However, Lucjan Uziębło, alias Sulimczyk, wrote in the Vilnius daily "Słowo" of 26 September 1922:

The Vilnius daily "Słowo"

The original of this bust was made in Warsaw by one of the best sculptors, Bolesław Syrewicz, back in the 1970s - few plaster casts were made. One such specimen was brought from Warsaw by an old Vilnius acquaintance of the author of 'Halka', Jan Wacław Machnauer, a pharmacist, Machnauer's son, who had a pharmacy 'Under the Golden Lion' - it was located in a house on Wielka Street, destroyed in 1864. Machnauer donated Moniuszko's bust to St John's Church. And 20 years ago, the church's pastor, Fr Kazimierz Pacynko, placed this bust on the organ loft. From this bust a cement and plaster copy was made by the Vilnius decorator Jozef Woznicki. These casts were purchased by the Magistrate. One, a cement one, bronzed by the painter Nelkin, stood on top of the pedestal, the other, decorated with laurel, was on display at the St Adalbert's bookshop.

Moniuszko's monument in the square next to St Catherine's Church did not look very representative, as Ferdynand Ruszczyc mentioned in his "Diaries", reporting on the unveiling ceremony of the monument: The monument does not look so bad. The slightly too small bust is saved by the dark, and therefore optically narrow, pedestal. It was meant to be a commemoration - as Ruszczyc himself emphasised - "of the time", but in the end a more impressive monument was never created.

The "Słowo" publicist also mentioned other facts related to another initiator of the monument's construction, Ludwik Piegutkowski, a Vilnius city councillor at that time:

Moniuszko's monument, lifted on the square at St. Catherine's, was quickly and timely erected at the city's expense by Mr. Bańkowski. Mr Piegutkowski designed the shape of the monument, Prof. Ruszczyc approved it, and Mr Piegutkowski, as head of the Technical Department of the Magistrate's Office, immediately carried out his own design, using the entire pedestal of the Pushkin monument.

The above-mentioned monument to Alexander Pushkin in Vilnius' Cielętnik - or, more precisely, the bust crowning the monument - was dismantled during the First World War and taken to Russia in the summer of 1915 by the Russian army retreating before the advancing German army. The pedestal remained in Vilnius.

After World War II, Moniuszko's monument was devastated several times (e.g. the bust of the composer was damaged, the lyre decorating the pedestal was stolen - both elements of the monument have been restored).

Stanislaw Moniuszko in Vilnius

Stanislaw Moniuszko spent 18 years in Vilnius (1836-1858, with a short break). He lived in the house of the Müller family in German Street (Vokiečių g. 26). There are memorial plaques on the building in Polish and Lithuanian since 1992.

Moniuszko worked as an organist in Vilnius St. John's Church, gave music lessons, and was a conductor in the Vilnius Theatre. In Vilnius he composed over 300 songs, the famous four "Ostrobramskie Litanies", and published "Śpiewniki domowe". In 1836 he met his future wife, Aleksandra Müllerna, here. It was in the Müllers' salon that the premiere performance of the first two-act version of 'Halka' (the so-called 'Vilnius Halka') took place on 1 January 1848. It was semi-amateurish, although the role of Jontek was performed by a professional singer, baritone Józef Achilles Bonoldi - a friend of the composer, considered an outstanding performer of Moniuszko's songs.

"Halka" was performed on the stage of the Vilnius Town Hall, where the Vilnius Theatre was then located, on 16 February 1854, with the composer himself conducting. Moniuszko's "Halka" is known today mainly in its Warsaw version, expanded to four acts with arias and ballet, which Vilnius saw in 1860.