Gained in Translation. Postmodern Architecture in Late Soviet Lithuania

Authors

  • Martynas Mankus Vilnius Academy of Arts

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2022.01.252

Keywords:

modern and postmodern architecture, modernism, Soviet modernism

Abstract

After being widely explored in the historiography of Western architecture, postmodernism has only recently started receiving adequate attention in Eastern and Central Europe. The phenomenon of postmodernism developed beyond the borders of the Soviet world, so the so-called “cultural logic of late capitalism” crossing the boundaries of the Iron Curtain has to be considered a consequence of globalization. On the other hand, this global trend was synchronized with the local expression of architecture: the pursuit of identity, attention to context and continuation of architectural traditions. Soviet publications presented postmodernism as a foreign phenomenon, but simultaneously noted that it could be useful to local architects as well. This did not imply an invitation to imitate Western colleagues, but rather signalled that certain architectural values had become globally significant to both, the capitalist and socialist industrial world. The text aims to uncover the local translations of (post)modernity in Lithuania in the context of the tendency’s peak period: the final decades of Soviet rule.

References

Baravykas, G. 1980. Regional architecture and its peculiarities (discussion), Statyba ir architektūra, (2), p. 2–6.

Davoliūtė, V. 2013. The Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War. London and New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315882628

Lieven, A. 1993. The Baltic Revolution. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence. Vilnius: Baltos lankos.

Yurchak A. 2005. Everything was forever, until it was no more. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ziberkas, L. 1978. Characteristics of architectural-spatial composition of residential districts. Paper presented at Design, building, maintenance of Housing Estates, and measures for its improvement conference organized by State Building Committee, Vilnius.

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Published

2022-07-19 — Updated on 2022-07-31

How to Cite

Mankus, M. . (2022). Gained in Translation. Postmodern Architecture in Late Soviet Lithuania. City: History, Culture, Society, (13 (1), 252–272. https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2022.01.252

Issue

Section

Situating 1980-s: urban planning and architecture. Contexts