Palace of Concerts and Sports — Soviet Brutalism, Vilnius

Palace of Concerts and SportsSoviet Brutalism  ·  Vilnius

Key facts

Style

Soviet Brutalism

Architect

Eduardas Chlomauskas, Zigmas Liandzbergis, Jonas Kriukelis

Completed

1971

Location

Žirmūnai, Vilnius

Photos

9

Photographed

Palace of Concerts and Sports

The Palace of Concerts and Sports is the most argued-over building in Vilnius. Completed in 1971 to a design by Eduardas Chlomauskas, Zigmas Liandzbergis and Jonas Kriukelis, it seats around 4,400 under a roof that sweeps up at both ends, giving the whole mass the look of an upturned vessel run aground beside the river.

It has stood empty for years, and its future is complicated by more than concrete: it was built on the site of Vilnius's old Jewish cemetery, which makes every proposal to reuse it a question about more than architecture. It is a genuinely important piece of late Soviet modernism, and it is genuinely contested.

Photographs and text by Dicky Chan · shot on iPhone, on foot

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