Excursion "Kaunas From Inside 2024. Kaunas Cultural Center and the Centre of Kaunas (LT)"

On Saturday, January 27, from 1:30 PM, Kaunas organization "Unikalus paveldas" will invite you to the first excursion from the 2024 winter season cycle "Kaunas. From the Inside" excursion. It will visit the Kaunas Cultural Center (Vytautos pr. 79), its concert hall and the backstage. The tour will be held in Lithuanian.

At the beginning of the trip, the guide Jonas Oškinis will introduce the central part of Kaunas, where the original Darbo rūmai (Chamber of Labor) was built in the interwar period – today, it is the building of the Kaunas Cultural Center. You will find out what the current Kęstutis and Vytautas streets were once called or learn where the legendary Latvian embassy was located - where the „chef“ of the entire diplomatic corps of the 20s of interwar Kovno, the future Latvian minister of foreign affairs, Antanas Balodis, worked.

The trip will continue in the central lobby of the Culture Center. The building was built in 1939 according to the project of functionalist architect Adolfas Lukošaitis (1906–1993). During the excursion, we will get to know the works of art exhibited in the Kaunas Cultural Center. First of all, the stained glass window „Mūzos“ ("Muses") in the Soviet modernist style by painter Bronius Grušas (1932-2013). We will also invite you to the Great Hall of the Culture Center - the traditions of theatrical activities were started in this building by the legendary 20th century Lithuanian theater director Juozas Miltinis. You will have the opportunity to visit both the make-up rooms and the backstage, which will reveal you of the dark pages of the building's history - it was the headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo during the Second World War.

With nostalgia and interest, we will remember the Soviet period in the then Profsąjungų rūmai (Trade Union Palace), where the most famous choirs of mid 20th century Kaunas rehearsed and the traditions of ballroom dancing were woven. During the tour, the present of the Kaunas Cultural Center will be also presented - today 18 different cultural collectives operate here.

After leaving the palace, you will hear a few more legends of the central part of Kaunas - where the famous architect Vladimiras Dubeneckis planned the University campus; where the Kaunas German Gymnasium, which did not live up to our time, worked; or - where the famous bar called "Ninth Heaven" operated during the Soviet years.

For more information or private inquires call +370 612 49866 or write to unikaluspaveldas@gmail.com.