SOCIALISTINIO MIESTO STANDARTŲ IR PAVELDOSAUGOS DILEMA: PIRMOJO VILNIAUS SENAMIESČIO REKONSTRUKCIJOS PROJEKTO VARIANTAI
Socialist city standards and heritage protection dilemma: variants of the first Vilnius Old Town reconstruction project

Summary/Abstract: The Vilnius Old Town planning documents of the interwar period embedded the priority of heritage protection, meanwhile the soviet specialists revealed there “a number of shortcomings improper for a socialist city”. In 1956–1959, these two concepts – the valuable heritage vs unhigienic remnants of the past – were considered in the Vilnius Old Town Reconstruction project. An (im)possible task was raised – to ensure “normal living conditions” while saving historical structures of the city. Two leading design organisations of that time – MRGD and Lietprojektas – analysed the prevailing conditions, historical and architectural values, and developed their concepts defining the Old Town future. These variants had much in common: the demolishion of poor technical condition and/or low architectural value buildings for intensity reduction, augmenting green public spaces, eviction enterprises and industry, and solving the traffic problems. Concerning the latter aspects, the Lietprojektas designed two highways crossing the Old Town; the project involved the demolishion of obstructing buildings and historical urban layout changes halving the number of quarters. On the contrary, MRGD proposed to eliminate transit transport from the protected area by means of a bypass. The main difference lied at the ideological level: Lietprojektas seeked to create aproper socialist city, preserving old structures if and where it was possible; instead, MRGD tried to save historical values avoiding intervention, unless it was inevitable. In 1959, the MRGD variant was approved and now is remembered as the end of the postwar demolitions in Vilnius as well as a set precedent in other cities’ protection plans in the former USSR. Hence, concerning the dilemma of different value systems, an ambivalent image of the Old Town was established. However, one may say that the MRGD project was given priority as it better resolved the contradictory task – to preserve the heritage in a contemporary city.

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