Comparing the socialist rural architecture of the Baltic States: the past and the future of the administrative-cultural centres of collective farms.

Laura Ingerpuu,S Bell,M.H Maia,A Fisher,V Capresi,C Pallini

doi:10.1051/shsconf/20196311004

Abstract

Collectivisation of agriculture in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was a drastic change that shaped rural built landscapes of the Baltic countries for five decades. Although Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been independent states, and collective farming has been abolished for almost thirty years now, the physical legacy of collective farms still exists. This paper examines what are the present processes in terms of preservation and valorisation of collective farm architectural heritage in the Baltic States. The focus of the analysis is on the administrativecultural buildings of the collective farms, built between the 1960s and 1990s, which represent the modernist and postmodernist rural architectural gems. I compare the context of the establishment of the administrative-cultural centres in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as developments in reuse and protection of these buildings after the abolishment of collective farming. I also analyse today's situation in terms of acceptance of this socialist legacy as a meaningful part of the history. My study is based on the field work in the relevant countries, available literature and data, and interviews conducted with the heritage conservation experts and researchers in this field.

Highlights

Agricultural collectivisation was forcibly implemented by the authorities of the Soviet Union in all the occupied Baltic Republics at the end of the 1940s
More than two decades after the abolition of collective farming, the built legacy of the era is present in the rural areas of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and it cannot be ignored nor can it be erased from the landscape
Compared to Latvia and Lithuania, a separate phenomenon in Estonia was the establishment of the inter-collective farm construction offices, which were created by kolkhozes already at the end of 1950s to implement the construction works in the region

Summary

Introduction

Agricultural collectivisation was forcibly implemented by the authorities of the Soviet Union in all the occupied Baltic Republics at the end of the 1940s. The heyday of the administrative-cultural buildings of collective farms began together with the political and economic changes at the level of the whole Soviet Union.

Results

Conclusion