"Pergalė" is a typical representative cinema adapted to Vilnius, which for some time was the largest (600 seats) and the most important in the city. The cinema was built in 1952 according to a typical design improved by Giovanni Ripa-Angioletto, with a spacious neoclassical interior, for the urban man of that time, who lived in a particularly cramped everyday life (when the average living space for a man was officially aspirational of 6,2 sq m), often in communal apartments, The spaces of "Pergalė" must have looked very impressive. Richly decorated exterior and interior of the building - open hall, gallery and closed cinema hall - artificial marble, pilasters, plaster moldings, chandeliers were used. The queues for the events were long, tickets were difficult to buy - this is evidenced by the old cinema advertisements that we found in the press.
The building is separated from the other houses traditionally standing along the street - this is a testimony to the unrealized plan of the transformation of Vilnius of the early Soviet era, which planned to build a wide highway crossing the Old Town instead of the current Pamėnkalnis Street. After regaining independence, it was discussed whether this building, a witness of a foreign era, should be demolished.
The second phase of the life of this building is quite different. After the restoration of Independence, Stalinist construction was marginalized as a cultural unit of a defunct system. The same thing happened to the "Hook" (the former Railway Palace) and many other similar structures. "Pergalė" officially stood empty for a long time. Or rather, it attracted a socially marginalized practice: dances for "those over thirty" were held here, a semi-illegal but well-known long-term market for pirated music records. During the period of change, the building passed into the shadow zone.
In 2006, Nesė Group, which at that time owned 11 percent of the gambling market in Lithuania, implemented an ambitious plan and the second Nesė Pramogų bankas opened its doors in Vilnius. The entertainment center was located in a grand building in the center of the capital, where the "Pergalė" cinema operated in Soviet times. The building itself is still called one of the most beautiful works of architecture of the Stalinist era in Vilnius.
Author of the article: VilniusGO.lt
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