Upės kaip modernizacijos proceso dalis tarpukario Kaune

Abstract

Recreation , leisure and entertainment have become important elements of the European urban culture long time ago. Places where nature and urban environment meet together have always been identified as comfortable. Thus, it is not surprising that the city parks, or even more, the beaches become a desirable part of the city’s image. Kaunas city is not an exception, here the initiatives of the revitalization of the riverbanks have become a recent center of attention of urban activists as well as architecture historians. Interest in the history of Kaunas riverside relates to the fact that the areas of the modern leisure in Lithuania have a long tradition, as its starting point can be associated with the interwar period (1918-1940). The article provides a brief summary of the study of “the resort network” being built near the river throughout the Kaunas region during the WWI and WWII as well as of its leisure culture that was flourishing and the related architectural marks and shapes of urbanization: newly built summer houses adapted to provide treatment (rehabilitation) and a place for living, villas, Kurhaus, restaurants, sanatoria, health resorts, commercial places, and public infrastructure.