BNS

Kaunas’ modernist architecture is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, but Lithuania will have to implement experts’ recommendations within a year and a half. Such a decision was made on Monday during a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Kaunas modernist architecture is included in the UNESCO world heritage list! This is a historical moment, especially bearing in mind that modernism in Kaunas is a relatively new heritage and especially considering how historically and politically important the period when our modern statehood was born and developed is for us,” says Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys.

Kaunas modernism was formed in the fourth decade of the last century, when the city was the temporary capital of Lithuania, after Poland occupied the Vilnius region. There are dozens of examples of exceptional modernist architecture in Kaunas. Cultural and natural heritage objects and areas of exceptional global value are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

There are already four objects included in this list in Lithuania: the historical center of Vilnius, the archaeological site of Kernavė, the Curonian Spit and the points of the Struvė geodetic arc.