“The Mythical Beast of Kaunas” is a story-telling project of Kaunas.
Throughout the centuries, various things happened in Kaunas:
Vytautas the Great fought the Teutonic order, and later sailed Nemunas to baptise the Samogitians. Hanza merchants sold salt, iron and maybe something stronger. Napoleon and his marauding army ran around Kaunas, and later Russian generals ordered to build here a very interesting by redundant fortress. Then better times arrived, and Kaunas became the temporary capital. A lot of good things happened here: Lithuanian modernism, Esperanto and Lithuanian cinema.
Everything happened in Kaunas, but all these things disappeared or moved elsewhere.
What remained in Kaunas all this time then?
There were always Kaunasians! The Mythical Beast of Kaunas and its story is precisely a story about those Kaunasians. The Beast has been and will be the last Kaunasian. What is it like? What’s its story? How and what can be told about Kaunas?
All these things are created by the Mythical Beast platform of the European Capital of Culture.
The platform works on several levels:
- organises workshops of creative writing (want to participate? Get information about the workshop schedule for 2019 in our office);
- develops the online portal www.kaunolegenda.lt (visit it and find out how to become its author)
- publishes a book for children about the European Capital of Culture programme “The Great Fairy-Tale Book of the Beast of Kaunas” (coming soon to bookstores)
- employing cutting-edge technologies, develops an augmented reality tourist route around Kaunas (follow news, as the route can become available very soon)
- creates new and collects all existing fairy-tales, legends and stories about Kaunas, Kaunasians, the Beast of Kaunas and other interesting things
- announces the open calls for the artists-professionals around the globe to visualise the Beast of Kaunas (artists can find out how to participate here)
The most important thing, stories we create together in this platform will be used to create the scenarios for the major events of the European Capital of Culture in 2022!