Following Kaunas modernist architecture’s inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the maintenance and protection of the cultural heritage “will become more effective”, the municipality of Lithuania’s second city says.
“We received this nomination not for any future commitments but for what we have already done,” Saulius Rimas, head of the cultural heritage division at Kaunas City Municipality, told a press conference on Tuesday.
According to him, all the nominated areas are already registered as cultural assets and are currently under protection.
“There will be no new concerns for the city’s residents,” he said.
The official emphasised that cultural heritage protection following the UNESCO listing “will become more effective, not more stringent”.
Kaunas’ modernist architecture was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 18.
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The municipality says that following this decision, Kaunas is the only European city representing extensive interwar urbanisation and diverse modernist architecture.
Before making the decision, the World Heritage Committee’s members provided certain recommendations to Kaunas, which the city must implement within a year and a half.
Lithuania has until December 1, 2025, to submit a report on their implementation to the World Heritage Centre so that the World Heritage Committee could evaluate it during its subsequent session.
Kaunas modernism was formed in the 1930s when the city was the temporary capital of Lithuania after Poland occupied the Vilnius region.
The city has dozens of outstanding examples of modernist architecture.
The UNESCO World Heritage List includes cultural and natural heritage sites and places of outstanding universal value.
Until now, Lithuania had four sites on the World Heritage List: the historic centre of Vilnius, the Kernavė Archaeological Site, the Curonian Spit, and the Struve Geodetic Arc.
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