Cultural Objects in the City Atnaujinta: 2011-03-07 15:18:09

The cultural and artistic side of Kaunas today is lively, varied and attractive. Without Kaunas, it would be hard to understand both the history of Lithuanian culture and its current state. Kaunas is the historical centre of modern Lithuanian culture. The city has preserved the witnesses of cultural life in the first Republic of Lithuania (1918-1940) – the former Vytautas' the Great Museum of Culture (currently the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum), preserving the paintings of the modernist group "Ars", the Kaunas Art School in Žaliakalnis, the constructivist, Bauhaus-like blocks of private houses in city's downtown and Žaliakalnis.

It is said that to get to know the culture of Kaunas at least a little better, to familiarize yourself with the collections of its museums and art galleries, the architecture, monuments, parks and the defensive ring of forts, you would need about a week. Nevertheless, for a starter tour of Kaunas, it might be enough to see just the most important cultural landmarks in the city.

 The best way to get the sense of the character of Kaunas is to ascend to the viewing site located at the highest point of the city – the Kaunas Christ's Resurrection Church in the Žemaičių street. By the way, it is easily seen not only from various spots in the city centre but from the windows of most rooms in Vytautas Magnus University, too. This church (arch. Karolis Reisonas) is the largest sacral building in Lithuania, conceived by people during the interwar as a symbol for strong and modern Lithuanian state, which would dominate the panorama of Kaunas, the provisional capital at the time. For 50 years of the Soviet occupation, the church served as a factory and only in 1990, when Lithuania restored its independence, the structure resumed its former function and became a true symbol of the resurgent country.

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The V. Putvinskio street is one of the most beautiful in Kaunas, distinguished by interesting pre-war constructivist style buildings with elements of Art Deco. A small cozy villa in front of the grand building of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum is the former Embassy of the state of the Vatican. Currently the Kaunas Artists' House is located on this street, organizing public cultural events and exhibitions. Inside the building you will find a decorative column, where the name of the artist which the citizens titled the most memorable one in Kaunas is written.

Next to the Kaunas Artists' House is the sculpture garden of Roberto Antini (1901 - 1981), the patriarch of Lithuanian sculpture, whose works focused on the topics of family, friendship and love. Some works by this sculptor can be found near the Kaunas' defensive castle and the city's viewing point in Aleksotas.

An impressive creation is standing next to the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum –  the sculpture "Three Kings" by Vladas Vildžiūnas, finished in 1967. It is a significant example of the Lithuanian modernism, which brought the Lithuanian folk arts and the Western European sculpture classics of the 20th century to the spotlight in the 60s.

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Impressive halls of this museum are devoted to the most famous Lithuanian painter and composer, M. K. Čiurlionis (1875-1911). This artist composed neoromantic music (available to listen to in a special hall of the museum) and impressive visionary paintings, which interweave the elements of symbolism, neoromantism and modernist explorations, characteristic of the 20th century fine arts. In 1907-1909 M. K. Čiurlionis discovered a completely original way of connecting painting and music in a single series of paintings. These paintings, which employed the principles of musical composition in their structure, were called sonatas, preludes, fugues, while their parts – allegro, andante, scherzo, finale. The museum has preserved almost the entire creative heritage of this artist: about 300 paintings, works of graphics, picture albums, musical scores. The M. K. Čiurlionis research information centre is functioning here, as well as the library. Today the art historians recognize M. K. Čiurlionis as one of the progenitors of abstract arts. His works are displayed at global exhibitions on symbolism, origins of avant-garde, synthesis of arts, fantastical paintings, links between art and science, the theme of space in arts.

On the other side of V. Putvinskio street is a separate division of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, the Devils' Museum. One can see a collection of over 3000 devils from around the world in here, collected by famous painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (1876-1966). Next to the museum is the apartment-museum of A. Žmuidzinavičius, with authentically preserved former residence of pre-war intellectuals of Kaunas, and the artist's studio on the highest floor. Another part of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum is the Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery. Mykolas Žilinskas was a famous art collector, an emigrant who generously donated his personal art collection to the city of his youth. Respecting the donor's goals and his consistent interest in the development of Western fine arts, the spaces of the Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery are used for collections of foreign fine arts and exhibitions of foreign modern fine arts. The most famous exhibits of the Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery include the works by painters from the Netherlands (Dirk van Baburen and David de Haen, 17th c.), Italy (Bartolomeo Guidobono, 17th c., and Leonardo Carl Coccorantes, 18th c.), Germany (Paulie Weimar, 19th c., and Lovis Corinth, 19-20th c.) and a collection of Belgian 20th c. paintings.

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After descending the Parodos hill, it is worth taking the trip from downtown to the Kaunas Old Town on foot. On the way, you will see spectacular historical landmarks of Kaunas. In the Ramybės park, formerly a cemetery, there are surviving Orthodox Churches, a mosque and a monument to the Lithuanian soldiers (by sculptor Stasys Stanišauskas). In 1991, a monument in memory of the participants of the uprising against the Soviet government in June of 1941, "Cross-tree" by Robertas Antinis, was built here. 

The St. Michael the Archangel Church (the Garrison Church) is a Byzantine Sobor evoking the Russian tsarist era. Citizens and soldiers gather here on holidays and red-letter-days. In 2002, the monument "Aukos laukas" (The Field of the Sacrifice) by sculptor Robertas Antinis and architect Saulius Juškys (both are laureates of the Lithuanian National Art and Culture Award) was built in the square of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre. The place where eighteen-years-old Romas Kalanta, an anti-Soviet protester, set himself on fire, was marked by the sculptor in a barely noticeable, yet meaningful way. His sacrifice was immortalized by eighteen stones, added to the composition in a meadow among trees. 

Near the juncture of the Laisvės alley and the Vilniaus street, surrounded by high brick walls from the 19th century, stands the miniature Church of St. Gertrude. It is a masterpiece of Medieval architecture, an oasis of silence and peace. Passing Vilniaus street, on the right side you can see a square with sculptures of three LIthuanian Presidents: Kazys Grinius, Aleksandras Stulginskis and Antanas Smetona. The Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania can be found next to the square. The interior and expositions of the palace remind the visitor of both the brightest and the darkest days of the First Lithuanian Republic.

The Kaunas City Museum is located near the Kaunas Cathedral Basilica of apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, in the Old Town. The exhibition "Kaunas in Time. Perspectives" ("Kaunas laiko ženkluose") is open here, documenting the events in city's history and culture, scientific and industrial development. The historians, art historians and IT specialists from Vytautas Magnus University participated in the preparation of the exhibition. The same building also houses the Kaunas Museum of Ecclesiastical Art.

 Dominating the Old Town near the Kaunas Town Hall Square is the Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier, the ensemble of the Jesuit Monastery and the gymnasium. The Jesuit Gymnasium is the oldest Lithuanian school. In 1819-1823, it was the workplace of the famous Lithuanian and Polish Romantic poet Adomas Mickevičius, who taught Latin,  the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, and Rhetoric.

Four different museums can be found in the Town Hall Square. The Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy introduces interesting, weird and sometimes frightening exhibits from the history of medicine and pharmacy: the reception room of the hundred-years-old Kaunas' pharmacy, the cellars of medicinal herbs, equipment for manufacturing tablets, a dentist's chair, in which the pre-war celebrities of Kaunas are said to had sit.

Romantics and aesthetes should enjoy the Ceramics Museum, found in the Gothic tombs of the Town Hall. Anyone interested in Lithuanian literature should visit the Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, which is established in the home of famous Lithuanian national bard, neoromantic poet Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis. An impressive monument dedicated to the poet is standing near the museum.

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In the Kaunas Castle, exhibitions of modern art are organized by the Textile Artists' Guild together with the students of Kaunas Art Institute every summer. Throughout the year, the guild holds exhibitions and seminars on professional textile. In winter, the young textile workers create impressive Christmas installations in the square in front of the guild, decorate M. Valančiaus street. Textile artists are especially active and creative in Kaunas. An important event of modern textile art, Kaunas' art biennial "Textile" is held here every two years in late autumn, attracting world-famous textile artists to the city.

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*More about this topic is available in the article "A Trip Around Cultural Objects of Kaunas” by Assoc. Prof.  Rasutė Žukienė in the publication “Revelations of Kaunas”, 2009 (Kaunas: VMU).