Heritage workshops
Heritage workshops, with the involvement of the local heritage community, provide an opportunity to see, learn about and get to know practical issues and aspects of heritage management. The workshops introduce the cultural heritage through learning and experience. Joint consultation provides answers to concerns about research, management, and recovery. Events of this nature also serve as an alternate space for discussion where heritage theorists, practitioners, institutions and heritage community meet.
“Kaunas 2022 – European Capital of Culture” programme “Modernism for the Future” joins the European Heritage Days initiative and invites you to participate in its events. The theme of this year’s European Heritage Days is “Sustainable Heritage”. It not only reminds us but also encourages us to turn back to the multifaceted commitment to a better quality of life for all. Heritage has repeatedly proven its longevity, sustainability and application of time-tested technologies and materials. However, today’s realities encourage us not only to look back and be proud, but also to raise awareness of the living environment and to highlight and address existing issues of heritage accessibility. Attention should be also paid to adapting cultural heritage to new functions, strengthening community links, and the ability to bring together different groups and find benefits for all. The series includes four events of different kinds: seminars, workshops for schoolchildren, a concert and a presentation of the results of crowdfunding projects on heritage:
Programme of events for European Heritage Days `22:
Seminar: Accessibility challenges and possible solutions for heritage buildings
One of the planned events of the cycle was a seminar dedicated to the challenges of accessibility of heritage buildings and possible solutions. During the seminar, good examples were presented and dilemmas related to the search for universal design in architecture were discussed. At the end of the seminar, there was a summary discussion with the audience. The seminar is organized in cooperation with the Impact Foundation, Paulina Tota-Stawarczyk and Martyna Bednarz from Poland were the main speakers of the seminar.
Event place: Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio Street 56, Kaunas
Photos by G. Jovaiša, 2022.
Workshops for schoolchildren
On September 16th, a workshop for schoolchildren was held at the Kaunas Central Post Office, during which the interrelationships between people, architecture, city planning, and social and urban life culture were examined. Attention was also paid to the heritage of modernist architecture in Kaunas.
The workshop was organized and led by guests from Poland: Impact audience team – Agata Etmanowicz, architects Paulina Tota-Stawarczyk and Martyna Bednarz. Together students created an accessible, safe and comfortable city. After the workshop, there was a short discussion where the children shared their insights and understanding of the accessibility of the town.
Event location: Central Kaunas Post Office, Laisvės al. 102, Kaunas
Are you a school and would you like to organize such a workshop for your students? You can do this with a free workshop manual. Link: Workshop manual
Photos by M. Pociūtė, 2022.
Presentation of the results of the project “Crowdfunding Opportunities for Heritage buildings”
On September 17th, in a private residential building at Minties rato st. 24, the results of the project “Possibilities of crowdfunding for heritage preservation” were presented. Currently, a project is being carried out with the partners “susimetam.lt”, during which the aim is to finance the production of milling blades with the help of crowdfunding, which could be used to cut the paneling of the typical profiled wooden houses of Žaliakalnis in Kaunas. During the event, not only were the blades presented but with the collected funds, new boards will be cut and painted, replacing the worn parts of the facade of the wooden building. Architect Povilas Konkulevičius talked about these subtleties and presented his project.
Event location: private residential building, Minties Rato st. 24, Kaunas
Photos by M. Pociūtė, 2022.
Concert in the bucket dredging vessel “Nemuno 7”
“Nemuno7” is the original name of a dredger used to deepen the riverbed of Nemunas. Built in 1965 in what was then Czechoslovakia, it can no longer be used for its intended purpose due to outdated technology, harmful to the river ecosystem. Instead of scrapping the object, a more sustainable solution has been chosen: to transform it into a cultural space. Right here, The “Happyendless” concert held on Sunday morning symbolically crowned the cycle of European Heritage Days events in the Kaunas area and invited us to welcome the day with a cup of coffee, fresh air and gently awakening electronic music.
Event place: Left bank of Nemunas, Zapyškis, Kaunas district.
Date and time: September 18th, Sunday.
Photos by M. Pociūtė, 2022 m.
Archive of events:
In the summer of 2018, Kaunas 2022 – European Capital of Culture, the architecture and heritage programme “Modernism for the Future”, the organisation „Gražinkime Kauną“ (“Let’s Beautify Kaunas”) and „Medžio meistrų draugija“ (“Society of Wood Masters”) implemented an exemplary workshop on the restoration of modernist doors. During the V. Putvinskio Street festival, the workshop offered a live view of the restoration work being carried out on the doors, a guided tour of the interwar Lithuanian design culture and a symbolic opening of the restored doors.
Partners: Kaunas Artists’ House, the organisation „Gražinkime Kauną“ (“Let’s Beautify Kaunas”) and „Medžio meistrų draugija“ (“Society of Wood Masters”).
In 2020, heritage and architecture programme “Modernism for the Future” joined the initiative of European Heritage Days in Lithuania. On 12–13th September, workshops of a cognitive, educational and practical nature were held to provide advice on: the value of historic buildings and green spaces, their condition assessment, maintenance of wood, plaster and other surfaces and restoration of different parts of the building and other related issues. Two homestead case studies were presented during the events: the urban homestead of Gruodžiai family on the Nėris hillside, and the rural homestead of Tadas Ivanauskas with a dendrological park on the hill of the Nemunas valley.
Partners: Department of Cultural Heritage, Kaunas City Museum, Kaunas District Museum, organization “Gražinkime Kauną” (“Let’s Beautify Kaunas”); Specialists: Lina Straigytė, Saulius Jackevičius, Rasa Bertašiūtė, Kęstutis Cikanas, Povilas Konkulevičius.
In 2021, during the European Heritage Days, events took place in Kaunas city and Kaunas district, during which it was possible to take part in meetings, discussions, excursions and practical activities. These included expert consultations, experimental heritage conservation and creative projects, and community initiatives. The events offered general information on preventive heritage care, as well as practical lessons, and the opportunity to hear and learn about inclusive community and individual projects. Inter-war modernist and wooden architecture, furniture and small architectural elements were brought up to date. Two case studies were used: the Creative and Community House “K.INAS. “Panemunė” (formerly the wooden parsonage of Panemunė) and the summer house of R. Polovinskas (now the Kulautuva Elderage and Library).
Partners: the Creative and Community House “K.INAS. “Panemunė”, Kulautuva Municipality, “FIXUS Mobilis”, furniture restorers Tadas Baukus and Julija Špakovaitė, architectural and restoration specialist Huriye Armagan Dogan, architect and wooden architecture promoter Povilas Konkulevičius, history teacher Mykolas Fedaravičius.
Photo archive:
Moments from the 2018 restoration workshop. Photos by Ž. Rinkšelis, 2018. Photo source of the unrestored door: www.autc.lt
Moments from the 2020 heritage workshop. Photos by A. Aleksandravičius (Kaunas 2022).
Moments from the 2021 heritage workshop. Photos by A. Aleksandravičius (Kaunas 2022).