Demolished Soviet heritage marking the limits of the capital of Aukštaitija: obsolete both physically and morally

Now these landmarks with the name of the city written in red letters are already in the history archives. The Panevėžio gatvės company started the demolition of concrete giants on Wednesday morning from the landmark at the entrance to Vaivadai. He later turned and dialed the entrance from Velžis, the same waiting in the direction of Šiauliai, and at the end of June it was dismantled after meeting the incoming Pasvalys.

Had two notes

J. Skublickas designed the landmarks of the capital of Aukštaitija for many years after winning the competition announced by the then Executive Committee of Panevėžys. According to the author, his work has long since lost its original image.

“Then there was the Soviet era and the landmark was required to contain two inscriptions of the name of the city, in Lithuanian and Russian. When Lithuania became independent, it dropped its Russian name. In an architectural sense, an object is well designed if nothing can be added to it. When the Russian text was removed, the boundary markers remained as if they were attacked, questionable, ”said J. Skublickas.

The Panevėžys inscription in Russian letters was half as small as in Lithuanian.

According to the author, each work, be it a building or any other object, has its own lifetime and its demolition time.

“It just came to our attention then. Not only are the demarcation marks being demolished, but also the huge buildings. You will do nothing about it,” says the architect.

J. Skublickas has designed many important objects in Panevėžys. His works are Palace of Marriage, Hospital for Infectious Diseases on Ramygalos Street.

Has no plate

After the demolition of the Soviet heritage that marked the limits of the capital of Aukštaitija, no new landmarks are planned to be built. According to the designer of the municipality of Panevėžys, Arvydas Narkevičius, such a decision is not determined by economic reasons. According to him, Panevėžys does not yet have its own identity mark, which would be worth marking the entry ways to the city.

On several occasions an attempt has been made to renew the old peculiar signs of the city.

A competition for this was announced in 2007, but the commission, after evaluating the four ideas received, recognized that none reflected the specificity of the city. The construction of new landmarks was tried again in 2009. At that time, the winner of the contest was promised a prize of 10 thousand litas, but again no interesting project appeared.

And three years ago, after announcing a tender to create a new Panevėžys gate, the City Council did not receive any suitable proposal that could be built as a symbol representing the city. The plan to install new boundary markers at at least two main entrances to Panevėžys from the Vilnius and Šiauliai sides remained unimplemented, and the city has yet to find its only symbol reflecting it.

“Vilnius is associated with the castle of Gediminas for everyone, Alytus is trying to represent herself as a city of love. Panevėžys does not yet have a sign that represents it,” says A. Narkevičius.

Earlier this year, three new city gates were installed in Alytus, which were created in accordance with the “Alytus-Myliu” brand by artist brothers Algirdas and Remigijus Apdeckai and communication specialist Artūras Mažeika. These doors are two-sided: those who come to Alytus are greeted with the inscription “Alytus loves you”, and those who leave the city can read “I love you.”

Demonstration of greatness

According to A. Narkevičius, the residents of Panevėžys, who have been on their feet since 1985, are both physically and morally obsolete. On the other hand, the designer doubts that it is really necessary to consider installing new ones.

“It was time that the bigger the city, the bigger its landmark, a display of greatness among the cities of the Soviet Union. Some of your landmarks are scaled to ohoho!

Those gigantic landmarks of the Soviet period remained only in the countries of the former Soviet Union. You won’t see it in Europe. There, the city limits are marked by road signs. That is logical, because cities are expanding, their boundaries are constantly changing and landmarks are losing their meaning, ”says the designer.

The end of the era of ancient Panevėžys landmarks was first announced by vandals, and at the end of June, at the entrance to the city from the Pasvalys side, the PANEVĖŽYS inscription was covered with red and black paint in red letters.

The City Council has made the decision to stop the landmark and dismantle it and all the others.