The Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania is located in a strategically convenient and excellent location. We are located on one of the most important streets in Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue. Recently, the central post office was operating nearby, so we are in the very center of Vilnius. Interestingly, the building itself, which tells the story of money and banking, is practically surrounded by buildings that once housed, and some still do, banks. The Money Museum is located near the central complex of the Bank of Lithuania building, dating back to the XNUMXth century. the palaces that arose at the end of the year (by the way, the oldest such buildings were built specifically for banking functions) and buildings of Soviet architecture on Totorių Street (more widely). In the opposite building (Gedimino Ave. 7) the central post office operated until recently, and in the 3th century at least a few banks operated here in the beginning. Today, the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences is located at the beginning of Gediminas Avenue (Gedimina Ave. XNUMX), and more than a hundred years ago there was a branch of the Bank of Russia here, and later the first commercial Lithuanian bank (more). And today we will tell you about two more buildings located very close to the Money Museum. In one, the bank still operates today, in the other no longer. What makes these buildings special?
First of all, it should be mentioned that not only the buildings are important, but also the street where they are located. Gediminas Avenue is one of the most important streets not only in Vilnius, but probably also in the whole of Lithuania. The length of the street is almost 2 kilometers and here you can find not only restaurants, cafes, shops, but also important institutions and cultural institutions for Lithuania. Several ministries and the Constitutional Court are located on Gediminas Avenue. The Seimas and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania can be found on Gediminas Avenue.
Neveltui Street is named after the so-called founder of Vilnius, Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. Despite this name, it is interesting that the avenue is not that old. Georgijaus Prospekt (that's how Gediminas Prospekt was then called) began to be formed only in the XNUMXth century. Ave. And the buildings started to sprout in it and the street was formed only in the XNUMXth century. at the end The buildings here were built until the Second World War. Anyway, a tradition has been formed to build large residential and representative buildings here. It has survived to this day.
The street's importance is also reflected in its name change. First it was named St. in the name of George. Later, the names changed depending on who was in power. Gediminas Avenue was previously named after Adam Mickevičius, Stalin, and Lenin. Thus, each government sought to convey its ideology precisely through the name. Every government created institutions important to it, as well as banks, for which they specially built buildings. Two of them stand next to each other, it is Gedimina Ave. Buildings numbered 12 and 14. Both of them are associated with the interwar period, when Vilnius was under Polish rule, and Gediminas Avenue was named after the poet Adam Mickevičius.
Gedimina Ave. 12
This is the building in which the commercial SEB bank still operates today. It is not surprising, because it was built specifically for banking purposes. Between the wars, the Postal Savings Bank operated here (PKO). This banking institution was established in 1919. by order of the Polish head of state Juzef Pilsudski himself. The purpose of this bank was initially to exchange Polish marks into Polish zlotys, and then to carry out ordinary banking operations. The central headquarters of this bank was in Warsaw, and branches were initially established in major Polish cities. Later, in smaller ones, as well as in Vilnius.
4th century In the 12s, there were many banks in Vilnius (there were about a dozen of them in the center alone), and new buildings were being built for them. At that time, the philosophy of pure modernism, or the Polish New School of Architecture, became popular among architects. Her idea is to purify modernism from representativeness and pomposity, rejecting the trappings of other styles. The number of buildings in this style began to increase in Vilnius. One of the most prominent examples of this style is the building on Gedimina Ave. 1936, Polish Post Office. They were built in 1937-XNUMX. It is believed that the palace was designed by Warsaw architects Z. Puget and J. Žuravskis. Engineer J. Borovskis, who signed the projects, led the construction and carried out technical supervision. The building stands with its rear northern facade to the side of the avenue next to the residential building (now a hotel) built together.
The five-story palace does not have an accented main facade. The same means of expression are repeated in all facades. From the avenue is the main entrance. The west facade is enlivened by the two-story windows of the bank's operations hall. The western and northern facades are covered with Polish sandstone, the plinth with granite slabs. The composition of the building is very simple, but the influence of classicism is felt.
The bank built not only the building, but also hired one of the most famous Vilnius painters of that time, professor Liudomir Sledzinskis, a representative of Vilnius neoclassicism, to decorate the interiors of the palace. In this building, he painted a panorama created with antique motifs on the wall. Panorama painted in the al secco technique (wall painting technique, when pigments of natural origin mixed with lime mortar, egg white, casein or other glues are applied on dry plaster). The panorama depicts a triptych. The left part of the triptych "Work" realistically depicted young men in tunics carrying bricks, the right part "Savings" - two girls counting money in a chest. The middle part of the triptych is called "Fortuna". This section depicts three floating goddesses, one of whom scatters pearls on the ground. Today, only the latter part of the triptych remains, although it is hidden by a partition in the modern SEB bank.
Gedimina Ave. 14
Right next to the already described building is another "representative" of pure modernism - Gedimino Ave. Address 14 marks the building where the bank also operated in Tarpukari. This is 1937-1938. built by the Polish Agricultural Bank (Polish. Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) department house.
This bank was established in 1924. Initiative of Polish Prime Minister Wladyslaw Grabski. The bank was created by merging three banks of the Galicia region into one. The main tasks of the bank were the following: providing long-term loans covered by bonds of municipalities, railways and other state institutions, providing loans to other credit institutions, etc. This bank helped strengthen the Polish economy, invested in strategic state objects, and even contributed to the development of the military industry. It became one of the largest banks in the interwar period in Poland. Its network was wide, the departments were modern, located in specially built buildings. Such a building was also built in Vilnius.
Before the building of this palace, the activities of the bank branch also took place in a nearby building, the historic Sniadecki Palace (now the Writers' Union is located there). The bank project in 1936 prepared by Warsaw architects J. Pankovskis and S. Golenzovskis, the works were supervised by the aforementioned engineer J. Borovskis.
According to the instructions of the Construction Commission of Vilnius Voivodeship, this building had to be stylistically adapted to the building of the Post Savings Bank, which had started construction a little earlier, and moved away from it by 14 meters. These are two rectangular bodies connected at an angle. The north facade of the four-story building faces the avenue, while the two-story building extends into the depth of the plot. The building is further away from the street, in front of it there is a parking lot where, it is assumed, a monument dedicated to A. Mickevičius should have appeared in the future. in 1938 a garage was built in the yard according to the project of the same architects.
The bank's operations hall was located in the courtyard building, the stairs to the upper floors of the street building - in a spacious vestibule connected to the operations hall. The rooms are located on both sides of the corridor. Only the street facade of the building is accentuated, the other facades are not expressive. Unfortunately, the seven compositions created by the already mentioned artist L. Sledzinskis, which surrounded the lobby on three sides, no longer survive. On the sides, the artist arranged three pieces each, depicting various branches of the economy cultivated in the Vilnius region: weaving, crafts and carpentry were depicted on the left side. On the right - trade, fishing and pastoralism. The middle composition "Symbol of Time" symbolized the flow of time. It depicts two women holding a clock.
The main facade is symmetrical, covered with Polish sandstone panels. The constructive, ascetic composition of the facade is softened by the bas-relief above the portal: the figure of a kneeling woman holding a cornucopia symbolizes work and prosperity. In fact, this bas-relief is the graduate work of sculptor Tadeusz Godziszewski. in 1938 the sculptor completed his studies at Vilnius (then Steponas Bator) University, and his diploma work on the facade of the building has survived to this day.
Today, a cosmetics store is located in the former branch building of the Polish Agricultural Bank.
Source: Money Museum
