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The claims of the Department of Cultural Heritage (CRD) to protect the demolition of the interwar village in Perkūno alley in Kaunas are justified, ruled the Regional Regional Administrative Court, rejecting the building owner’s claim.
The owner of the building complained about the demand to stop the demolition of the house, to cover the damaged part of the building and the window and door openings, thus protecting it from the negative impact of the environment.
The court upheld the heritage conservationists’ argument that, although the building was not included in the register of cultural values, it entered the Žaliakalnis area and was marked as valuable there.
“The building to be demolished by the petitioner can reasonably be assessed by the accused as a cultural heritage building, which is protected. In this case, the arbitrary demolition of the property in dispute violated clause (…), which establishes that the management of cultural heritage is carried out in accordance with the established patrimonial protection requirements, for which the defendant legally and reasonably drafted the controversial claim, ”The Klaipėda Chamber ruled on Tuesday.
After evaluating these and other circumstances, the panel of judges rejected the complaint of the owner of the house Artūras Dankovskis as unfounded.
Photo by Vilmantas Raupelis
The owner, who appealed the complaint to the Department of Cultural Heritage, alleged that his property rights were unjustifiably restricted and that the demolished building was not a cultural heritage structure because it was not registered in the Register of Immovable Cultural Property.
According to him, the building does not have valuable properties and is in a state of emergency, and in 2015 it was decided not to register it in the Register of Cultural Heritage.
The owner also told the court that the claims of the heritage conservationists are incompatible because the demolition work has stopped at a stage where the building’s remaining structures may endanger people’s health and lives, and their condition is impossible to cover.
“According to the contractor, a gust of wind will be enough to cause some of the structures in the disputed building to collapse uncontrollably,” the court cited the owner’s arguments.
The Department of Cultural Heritage, for its part, argued that the owner had erroneously stated that the house was not a cultural heritage building because the area where the building is located was recognized as cultural heritage.
According to the Department, the jurisprudence of the Lithuanian Supreme Court suggests that a building not registered in the register, related to the valuable features of the cultural heritage site, should be considered a cultural heritage building, and this building is marked as valuable in the plan special of the Žaliakalnis territory.
According to the Department of Culture, the applicant should have known that the house was guarded because its Kaunas branch as early as 2015, in response to the applicant’s request for permission to demolish the house, declared that the building could not be demolished. Furthermore, this was explained to him when he arrived at the Kaunas department branch in October 2020.
In addition, according to the patrimonial guards, the applicant did not provide documents proving the state of emergency of the building.
The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania within thirty calendar days from the date of its publication.
Demolition work
The portal kauno.diena.lt remembers that Perkūno al. The demolition of House 11 began in October last year. The work was carried out without permits, for which the inspectors of the Department of Cultural Heritage were arrested.
However, the following day work was resumed and heavy machinery demolished part of the wall of the interwar building. The work was suspended again. The demolition workers then took a day break and the heavy machinery was turned back on over the weekend, when most government agencies closed. This time, almost half of the ceiling fell. The works were stopped by environmentalists who intervened, as the slate roof broke during the demolition and environmentally harmful asbestos dust spread in Žaliakalnis.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
Both urban heritage specialists and state heritage conservationists have repeatedly explained that demolition work is being carried out illegally without the necessary permits. However, the building owner taught that demolition work does not require permits because the house, he said, is not valuable.
According to the CRD, in 2012 the municipal council approved the special plan for the 1st Žaliakalnis Cultural Reserve of the municipality of the city of Kaunas. All this reserve is registered in the Register of Cultural Heritage.
In the special plan solutions, villa Perkūno al. 11 is marked as belonging to one of the highest cultural categories, the fourth. This category includes authentic historical buildings of urban and architectural value.
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