The Kurnėnai School: A Unique Example of Interwar Lithuanian Modernism and Its Preservation

A Unique Example of Interwar Lithuanian Modernism and Its Preservation

Abstract

This article presents the history of the funding, construction, and restoration of Kurnėnai School in the Alytus district—an exemplary project of interwar Lithuanian architecture. In 1934, Laurynas Radziukynas, a Lithuanian American born and raised in Kurnėnai, donated 160 thousand litas for the construction and furnishings of an elementary school in his hometown. The project for the school was drafted in the U.S. Most of the construction materials and furnishings were also bought in the U.S. and brought to Lithuania by sea. The school was equipped with highly modern plumbing for its time, including central heating, a biologically processed sewage system, and a shower. Next to the school, a wind turbine was built, with a pump that pumps water from an artesian well (97 meters deep) up into a water tower reservoir. The school tower was adorned with a ceramic Vytis (Lithuanian coat of arms) designed by Vytautas Brazdžius (1897-1969). There was also a schoolyard for physical exercise and a garden. Against the architectural backdrop of interwar period educational facilities, the school of Kurnėnai stood out as exceptionally modern. In 1990, the school’s architectural ensemble was entered into the Register of Cultural Properties of Lithuania and is considered a protected heritage piece of regional significance. The school was closed in 2008, following a demographic decline. As the building fell into disuse, its condition steadily declined, and it was restored from 2019 to 2020. This article discusses the construction, use, and restoration of the school in a chronological manner, in line with the principles of formal and historical analysis, as well as the factors enabling the preservation of this school as a time capsule with perceptible interwar optimism and maximalist pursuit of modernity.