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Experts prepared a report recommending to the European Commission to grant the European Heritage Label to 16 sites or objects, including Lithuania's application Kaunas of 1919-1940.

The European Heritage Label is awarded to sites located in the EU that have a key role in European history and culture as well as the building of the Union. The aim is to put the spotlight on common European heritage to strengthen citizens' sense of belonging to the Union and to reinforce dialogue between cultures.

European Heritage Label shooting team visited Kaunas and captured the most important objects in the interwar period including Kaunas Garrison Officer's Club, Central Post Office, Christ's Resurrection Church, Vytautas the Great War Museum, etc.

The marked places or objects will be allowed to use the table with a European Heritage logo and they will be included into EU strategy for publicizing and promoting their existence, dedicated to European Heritage Label. Finally, winners will participate in the annual conference of the object managers, where they will be able to make contacts with colleagues and expand their knowledge.

"This is a very significant assessment for Kaunas. While seeking for the European heritage Label we wanted to draw the attention of Lithuanian and European population to a unique phenomenon of Lithuanian architecture – Kaunas interwar period modernism. This label will contribute to the conservation of interwar architecture in Lithuania, enhancement of social status, to the forming of approach to this heritage and further research," said the Mayor of Kaunas City Andrius Kupcinskas.

European Heritage Label award ceremony will take place in Brussels on the 15th of April.

More about Kaunas Interwar Architecture

Several favourable factors contributed to the burst of modernism in Kaunas: the newly independent Republic of Lithuania was desperate to give itself a modern face. The society was ready for change, and that change could be delivered by young and talented architects from foreign architecture schools: Mykolas Songaila, Stasys Kudokas, Bronius Elzbergas, etc.

Kaunas modernism was formed in the first part of last century, when the city was the temporary capital of Lithuania. After Poland occupied Vilnius, Lithuania's government moved to Kaunas. During this period Kaunas was developing from a marginal provincial town into an important architectural centre of the region, which was following the modern architecture of interwar Europe and interpreting it in local context.

Public buildings (banks, clinics, churches, office buildings etc.) and housing architecture (apartment buildings, villas) – the town is a few tens of exceptional examples of modernist architecture The big and important projects like the Museum of Vytautas the Great (1930–1936) and Church of the Resurrection (1933–1940) built in the 1920s and 1930, as well as the compact stylish apartment buildings are still characterising the current cityscape of Kaunas, thus creating a consistent milieu in the heart of Kaunas.