The headquarters of Marijos Radijas in Kaunas: an intruder in the Old Town?

·31 May 2026

A few years ago, the new headquarters of the Catholic radio station Marijos Radijas were opened on the most prestigious street in Kaunas’s Old Town. The development filled a gap in the historic street frontage, but at the same time sparked a debate about the impact of contemporary architecture on the historic surroundings.

An empty plot for over 100 years

The history of the plot at 5 Vilniaus Street is quite interesting. Research carried out before construction began revealed that over 100 years ago, a small wooden pharmacy stood here. The building most likely burned down, and the empty site remained undeveloped for several decades. During the Soviet period, a small square was laid out on the plot; later, it became overgrown with self-sown trees and turned into a neglected wasteland. Importantly, no historical foundations or other significant relics of earlier buildings, predating even the pharmacy, were found during the excavations. This fact later played an important role in shaping the new structure of the Marijos Radijas radio station.

The headquarters of Marijos Radijas in Kaunas

Marijos Radijas originally broadcast from its headquarters on M. Daukšos Street, but around 10 years ago a decision was made to build a new facility for it. The choice of the plot on Vilniaus Street was no accident. It is just a few minutes’ walk from St Peter and Paul’s Cathedral and Kaunas’s most important ecclesiastical institutions. The project was financed mainly through donations from listeners and supporters of the station. The plot itself is situated in a particularly prominent location in the Old Town. It neighbours, amongst others, the complex of the former presbytery and the so-called Royal Inn, which are among the city’s most valuable monuments. It was precisely the proximity of these buildings that meant the design of the station’s new headquarters was under close scrutiny from the outset by conservationists, architects and residents. Construction work began in 2017 and lasted three years.

Contemporary design in a historic setting

The concept was devised by a team associated with E. Miliūnas’s studio. Aurimas Ramanauskas, Dalia Paulauskienė and Džiugas Karalius worked on the project. The architects had nothing to draw upon, as the site had no significant history. The designers also rejected the idea of styling the building to resemble a former tenement house. Instead, they opted for a minimalist, somewhat abstract structure with geometric shapes. The façades, featuring large glass panels, were finished with grey-cream bricks. Inside, radio studios, offices, technical rooms and a chapel were fitted out. A small courtyard was created next to the building.

Marijos Radijas w Kownie — photo: Google Maps/ Tauras Norkus

The Marijos Radijas headquarters divided the residents

When the scaffolding was removed in 2020, a real storm erupted. A flood of criticism appeared on social media almost immediately. Kaunas residents felt that the glass-and-concrete structure contrasted too sharply with the surrounding historic buildings. The most common criticism was the lack of a traditional roof and an aesthetic that was markedly different from the rest of the Old Town’s buildings. Over time, the discussion spread beyond Lithuania’s borders and became part of international debates on contemporary projects in historic city centres.

Regardless of aesthetic judgements, the new headquarters of Marijos Radijas remains a much-discussed project, one of the most talked-about in the architectural history of contemporary Lithuania.