Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)

This article analyzes the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports (VPCS) as a type of lost urban place. Consequently, it poses the applicability of the concept of the creative city. It investigates this case study through interviews with both specialists and passersby, developing both the semiotic approach and the concept of produced space. The case study illustrates the theoretical potential of creative strategies; in practice, however, due to spatial regulations, conflicting interests, and heritage preservation constraints, the creative city model has thus far failed to take effect.

This article explores the problem of widespread use of Gothic motifs in Late Baroque churches in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its aim is to identify the abstract organizing principles common to both architectural languages, in order to move from a formal analysis to the possible motivations behind this phenomenon. Current research explains the influence of Gothic through two opposing tendencies: local tradition and the impact of the Borrominian language. The article argues that, in both cases, the choice reflects a conceptual motivation. It specifically focuses on the principles of integration and structural unity associated with Gothic architecture. A similar principle became relevant again in the eighteenth century. According to architectural phenomenologists, architecture can be understood through layers of meaning, and this article explores how such principles align with the medieval world-view that persisted in the mid-eighteenth century. The principle of unity is most clearly articulated through vertical connection, symbolizing the dependence of the earthly world on the heavens – an idea central to both scholasticism and the Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophical system.

The first Catholic parochial school in the USA was established as early as the mid-eighteenth century in Philadelphia, while general Catholic education peaked in the 1960s, when more than 4.5 million schoolchildren were taught in Catholic schools. This represented 12 percent of the total number of elementary school pupils in the USA.1 Although a few dozen Lithuanian Catholic parochial schools with a few thousand pupils made up just a tiny part of this phenomenon, it is believed that a case study may reveal general valuable characteristics common to the American Catholic architectural heritage. The results of this study are expected to be of relevance to the researchers of other ethnic groups and Catholic heritage, as most of these groups have gone through similar periods of development.

This review is dedicated to presenting Stasys Samalavičius' book 'Urban Culture and Everyday Life in Lithuania in the 17th and 18th Centuries'.

Šnipiškės is one of the most important suburbs of Vilnius. It was densely covered by wooden and masonry buildings. The territory was subjected to essential changes during the Soviet period when private property was nationalized and new projects of urban development were introduced. Later in the twentieth century, large scale reconstruction was started that changed the structure and character of the area. The article examines these changes.

Using the phenomenological research approach offered by Christian Norberg-Schulz, the article discusses the impact of landscape on the architecture of Late Baroque churches in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The late eighteenth century brings changes to the understanding of landscape as natural environment – the ideas of Enlightenment encourage observing and explaining the natural surroundings and at the same time the Late Baroque expresses its profound love of nature. In architecture, instead of culturally biased rules, new nature’s rules are being introduced. Late Baroque two-towered masonry churches are erected in various locations characterized by a different topography. The article focuses on the churches of Naumiestis, Krinčinas, Volna, Dunilavichy and Gaina, reflecting the specific landscapes of respectively, flatlands, undulating hills, and higher elevations. Through the reflection of these different landscapes in the buildings of the churches, the baroque idea of the unity of the world, architecture, and mankind reveals itself. The article draws attention to the side elevations of the church buildings in which the ‘traditional’ spatial structures taken over from the historical styles and submitting to the baroque unity become a reflection of landscape.

The value and significance of the Curonian Spit, a site of an outstanding cultural landscape created by natural forces, and human hands and mind, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, are integral when it comes to new constructions or the preservation of significant objects of heritage. This site is often perceived or analyzed without considering its integrity and cultural landscape. The article deals with the components, morphological structure, and dual architectural identity of the part of the Curonian Spit which belongs to Lithuania. It also tries to discuss the issue of the value of this outstanding natural object, which could help preserve it for future generations.