Architecture

In brief: Kaunas stood out by its history from ancient times in Lithuania. The king Henrikas Valua (1551-1589) called Kaunas the jewel of the Republic of Two Nations. In the middle of the 16^th century – second half of the 17^th century the period of its existence is called “Republic of Kaunas” – this reflects the municipality of the city, the quality of participation of inhabitants in the city life and management, which was strived for by other Lithuanian cities.

Therefore, no wonder that Kaunas experienced some harmful and some useful influence from the architectural point of view, which is felt in the cityscape until now. These metamorphoses revealed in a rather short time in 1795 – 1861, when, after the collapse of the Republic of Two Nations, the change of the city planning started in the lands occupied by Russia. Did the conquerors only ruin in fact, like it is often stated in Lithuanian historiography? How did the city of Kaunas look like at the time when the balance of power changed, how it is defined by the witnesses? All this is revealed in the article.