The Kaunas Central Post Office Building, a gem of modernist architecture from the 1930s, is to host the National Institute of Architecture and will be opened to visitors by spring 2027.
Designed by the architect Feliksas Vizbaras and opened in 1932, the Kaunas Central Post Office is one of the most valuable modernist buildings in Kaunas. It is a cultural icon on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The building is now in a satisfactory state of repair and is to be thoroughly reconstructed. Marija Nemunienė, the project manager of the renovation work, says that the Post Office is a masterpiece that needs to be cleared of unnecessary furnishings.
“First of all, the extensions in the courtyard – the ramps, the storerooms, the outbuildings. In addition, especially in the basement of the building where we are planning storage, there are a lot of alterations, sanitary units, that will be cleared out,” she says.
Five years ago, when the Lithuanian Post announced the building would be auctioned off, Kaunas activists organised in the group Paštininkai (Postmen) and campaigned for the city and national authorities to nationalise the building and put it to public use.
The Ministry of Culture eventually bought the post office building. It will host the National Institute of Architecture, with planned spaces for exhibitions and education, a small display dedicated to the postal history, and conference halls for events.
“There will also be residencies, which is very important, and we will invite architects from Lithuania and abroad to stay longer, create, communicate, meet local architects and the community. Lectures, meetings, film screenings – these are many activities that I think will make the building a dynamic, ever-changing place,” says Kęstutis Kuizinas, head of the National Institute of Architecture.
An exhibition on the history of architecture is planned in the main hall on the ground floor.
“The historical part should cover the 20th and 21st centuries. [...] The hall may look very big, but it is not so capacious as to fit the whole history in detail, but I think it is very important to talk about contemporary architecture,” says Viltė Migonytė-Petrulienė, deputy head of the National Institute of Architecture.
The president of the Lithuanian Union of Architects says that one of the activities of such an institution is to explain to the public and architects themselves what architecture is.
“The public does not always see the cultural, artistic element, for them, it is a type of construction. [We need a] change in people’s thinking that architecture is a particularly important element in their lives,” emphasises Gintaras Balčytis, chairman of the Union of Architects.
The reconstruction of the Kaunas central post office building is planned to last until spring 2027 and is estimated to cost 16.5 million euros. Until the work is complete, the National Institute of Architecture will work in other premises on Laisvės Avenue in Kaunas.
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