Restoration works are being launched at the Kaunas Central Post Office building on Laisvės Avenue, the works, valued at EUR 16.5 million, will continue until July 2027, and by the end of that year the National Institute of Architecture will be established in the building.
On Wednesday, a symbolic time capsule was placed into the wall of the Central Post Office, the Cultural Infrastructure Centre announced.
“This is a meaningful transformation: a building that for decades connected people through communication will become a space that brings together architectural ideas, research, and visions for the future, while also becoming a story of the state’s past, its maturity, and its creativity,” Minister of Culture Vaida Aleknavičienė said in the statement.
The works will be carried out by Ekstra statyba, the company that won the tender. The project is funded with EU funds.
In the former operations hall of the Kaunas Central Post Office building – the building’s main space – a permanent exhibition on Lithuanian architecture and a dedicated project space will be established after the reconstruction. In other ground-floor spaces of the southern wing, an architecture publications reading room and a café will operate.
An Information Centre is planned next to the main entrance, and a souvenir shop will operate. The representative main lobby of the building is expected to remain unchanged.
On the basement level, storage facilities for architectural heritage are planned, and part of the space will be dedicated to presenting the history of the Kaunas Central Post Office building.
Temporary exhibition spaces will be set up on the second floor of the southern wing. The three largest rooms on the building’s third floor will be adapted for conferences. The Institute’s administration will be located on the building’s fourth floor. Creative studios and artist residencies are planned for the fifth and sixth floors of the southern wing.
The Kaunas Central Post Office building is a cultural heritage site of national significance. The building was constructed in 1932 to a design by engineer Feliksas Vizbaras.
