I've never been to Vilnius (should go my maternal grandmother's family is from there). I hear
it's beautiful but also suffers from the same modernist blight that most cities in the west also suffer from, the so-called commie-blocks in Eastern Europe, Projects and massive ugly urban sprawl in the US and Canada, the UK suffers from hideous new towns as does France and all over Europe we have the ugly pre-fab apartment towers of the post war modernists. All cities have this problem, some worse than others. The one good thing about former commie europe is that there is no wasteful ugly suburban sprawl that devours farmland, the commie blocks promoted fairly dense development at least that spared farmland.
So it really is unfair to trash Poland for its ugly blokowsko (commie blocks) districts, there is plenty of it everywhere,
Now, as for the beautiful cities, it would be very unfair to exclude Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan, Torun and even Lodz, which will be spectacular once the pace of restoration quickens. You should see Wroclaw and Gdansk today, even if there are many vacant parcels where pre-war construction hasn't been rebuilt yet, these cities are becoming absolutely stunning with their mix of historic and modern, much of it quite good really. If we're comparing old towns, then yes porbably Vilnius, Lviv and Krakow and Prague are best, but a city is more than just the old town, just feel the energy in Wroclaw and Lodz these days
I do not want to agree with You.
Maybe You will one day come to Vilnius and see for yourself, but in my opinion:
1. Vilnius NCC is not very high. Actually, the highest building is Europa Tower and there will not be more higher building. Why? Because if you look from some panoramic spots and from some OldTown places, highrises might drown with or put into the shade with Gediminas Tower/Upper Castle ruins. So, the X structure/project can not be heigher than Europa Tower, because it will contradict with Gediminas Tower and Old Town. It is a very strict rule, sometimes very expensive
and cost us investments in NCC.
Copenhagen and many other Northern Europe cities also does not have highrises and concentrate on smaller highrises (at the moment in Vilniu - K29 project, DNB bank HQ, later - Vilniaus Vartų/gates of Vilnius expansion (Arches project) )
On the other hand, there are territories in Vilnius where higher building can be built. (Western City center);
2. Modern Architecture quality. Well, it is, you know, a subjective matter and our outlook depends on our taste.
. But. Every project must be confirmed by Commision of Architects. They can agree with project, give some explanations, say some observations, comments, they pay attention even on details. Main thing - a building/project must fit into the environment and can not contradict with older building. For instance, this is a new modern (that glassy one) building in Gediminas avenue (New/Old Town):
© xxl
So you can not build whatever you want. Public interest uber alles
3. Soviet-era architecture. It was in very heigh level. For instance, National Art Gallery building, some buildings in Gedeminas avenue can stand in most developed cities which has a strict heritage protection. Reasons why in Vilnius soviet time architecture is very good are several: archtects continued interwar architecture and design tradition (arch. Šeibokas building in one corner in Gediminas prospect), they tried to implement less social realism connotations, we had very developed interior design school (Neringa, Lietuva Hotel, Sporto rūmai hall and others ). Sometimes architects cheated and said to Moscow: "we need more money, because constrcutors chrashed glass-windows" or smth like that. So, architects had good possibilities to develop their ideas and used expensive materials. For instance, Opera and Ballet Theater (here is a link with all rejeted/confirmed projects) -
http://www.autc.lt/Public/HeritageObject.aspx?rt=3&oe=5&id=931
Plus, we had some Nordic influence (particularly from Finland).
Yes, there are some building in the OldTown, which are...not in the right place, like Salomėjos Nėries gymnasium or Contemprorary Art Musem. But. This is the only one drawback. Architecture of above-mentioned buildings looks great. Other buildings (former cinema" Lietuva" sooner or later will be demolished).
4. Suburb district (so called "sleeping district"). I terms of life quality, i think, they are great (i think the same is in Poland). Compare them with some London's districts. Or with some Italian districts. Not so bad, I think.
Architecture? Well, Lazdynų district is based on one Helsinki district example. More similarities than differences.
Actually, probably all commieblock districts were developed on the example of Lazdynai, this means, "a district in the forest". Nature is very noticeable in Vilnius.
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See You in Vilnius.