Kaunas
The Art Deco Post Office & its interior
A varied and very interesting city. Yet another European “Capital of Culture” city. This time a lot of the architecture is Art Deco rather than Nouveau.
The large central old Town Hall square was particularly picturesque being surrounded with 16th & 17th century grand houses – albeit many now turned into restaurants.
The Old Town Hall Square with what I thought was a church in the centre – but no! its the old Town Hall.
The Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier in The Old Town Hall Square
Basketball is the Lithuanian National sport – so appropriate then to have a statue of the Canadian-American inventor of the sport, James Naismith, just off the square.
The Yard Gallery has developed into an open air gallery for all to visit. It started off with one artist decorating the walls of his house & sort of just grew from there.
The New Town
Monument with the Eternal Flame to those who died for Lithuania’s freedom
The Vytautas the Great War Museum
The Basilica of Christ’s Resurrection has a commanding view over Kaunas. Conceived to celebrate Lithuanian independence in 1918 it was largely completed by WWII in a rather brutalist Art Deco style. During the German occupation the building was used as a storehouse. Then when the Soviets came, Stalin decreed that the building would become a factory. It wasn’t consecrated for its original purpose as a church until 2004.
Liberty Avenue is the longest pedestrianised street in Eastern Europe. You can just see at the end the St Michael The Archangel Church.
A fun bit of street art? The words on the surface are the Lithuanian for Unity, Love, Freedom & Hope and reflect the country’s nationalist independence ideals. The sphere also reflects the viewer contemplating this.