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The ceremony blessing the construction of the art school

Author: Unknown artist
Created:May 8, 1923
Technique:photograph
Dimensions:12.50 × 17.20 cm

Kaunas Art School was founded based on the drawing classes given by Justinas Vienožinskis. At the beginning, lessons were held in small, cold and dark studios scattered across three different locations around the city. The school was finally allocated a plot of land in Žaliakalnis, and in the autumn of 1922 the construction of a new building started on the Hill of Oaks. Faced with the threat of losing the plot of land to another scheme, Vienožinskis called on the students and teachers for help. They dug ditches and laid the foundations overnight, and even started building the walls. The painter Ignas Piščikas, a former student at the school, recalled: ‘Vienožinskis told us that our help was needed, and we worked hard through the night, dirty and without sleep. Nobody thought of remuneration, and nobody was promised any. We were building our school’ (A. Valiuškevičiūtė, Kaunas Art School, Vilnius, 1971, p. 24). When a commission arrived the next morning, it found the walls of the new building were already rising, and the other claims on the site were abandoned.

In the spring of 1923, when the money for constructing the first floor had been used up, a ceremony blessing the foundation stone was organised. The guests included President Antanas Stulginskis, Bishop Pranciškus Karevičius, ministers, vice-ministers and other senior officials. After a reception, an agreement was made to extend credit, and permission was given to dismantle the ninth battlement at the Kaunas Fort and to use the bricks to build the school. Donations were also solicited. Thanks to the efforts of teachers and benefactors, the construction work was finished in the autumn of 1923. Although the building was not fully equipped, it opened its doors to students in the autumn term.

Text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album KAUNAS–VILNIUS / 1918–1945 (2021). Compilers and text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė
Expositions: "1918-1945 / Kaunas-Vilnius", 27 August 202021 August 2021, Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curators Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė.