Title Manifestations of politics in Lithuanian architecture : examples of architectural dehumanisation during the transition from a Soviet a post-Soviet Society /
Translation of Title Politikos apraiškos Lietuvos architektūroje: architektūros dehumanizavimo atvejai pereinant iš sovietinės į posovietinę visuomenę.
Authors Petrulis, Vaidas
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Is Part of Meno istorija ir kritika = Art History & Criticism : menas ir politika: Rytų Europos atvejai = Art and Politics: Case-studies from Eastern Europe.. Kaunas : Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto leidykla. 2007, [T.] 3, p. 209-216.. ISSN 1822-4555
Keywords [eng] Soviet architectural heritage ; Ideology ; Abandoned places ; Functional typology
Abstract [eng] During practically the entire development of Lithuanian architecture in the 20th century, one can observe open architectural politicisation as being one of the most important ideological ways of giving meaning to space. Themes of national romanticism that were exploited during the interwar period were followed by a feverish attempt during the Soviet period to create a “socialist city”, and replaced by subsequent variants enabling the search for a national identity within the “union of nations”. These tendencies may be associated both with the peripeteia of politics, and the principled disposition – especially with reference to the modern movement – of architecture in the 20th century, or to open politicisation. At the turn of the 21st century, however, one finds an inclination to erase the more distinguishing ideological boundaries. In architecture, the direct and unambiguous examples that give a political sense to space, and that are demonstrated in an explicit manner, are replaced by multifaceted phenomena manifesting themselves via secondary (latent) subsequences. The urbanistic texture of a city/town is transformed by encompassing ideas and interests that are obviously even contradictory in the sense of their ideological meaning. In assessing a major portion of the architecture of the Soviet period, we acknowledge that only the most general and most telling examples of an ideology, articulated in the simplest way (high-rise buildings from the Stalinist period, monumental... [to full text].
Published Kaunas : Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto leidykla
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2007