KAUNAS MODERNISM – ARCHITECTURE OF OPTIMISM

The state of mind which embraces a belief and hope that one’s efforts will produce positive and desirable results is called optimism. Such a conviction prevailed in interwar Europe, particularly in countries whose independence had been either restored or newly won after the First World War. In 1918, the founders of the newly proclaimed independent Republic of Lithuania declared Vilnius to be their capital. One year later, however, geopolitical tensions and territorial conflicts forced Lithuania’s government to quickly relocate to the country’s second largest city. Kaunas took on a unique status – that of provisional capital, which led to the city’s radical transformation. Over twenty years, the city’s area increased seven-fold. Ten thousand new buildings were constructed, incorporating cleanliness, openness, and light. By the 1930s, Kaunas began to see the return of young Lithuanian specialists who studied architecture in Western Europe, bringing new trends home with them. These modernists became a pow