Naujoji "Radvilų valda": įvaizdis ir autentika

ENEchoing the occasion of the 700th birthday of Vilnius, a real estate project advertisement appeared online, apparently promising to resurrect the territory that once belonged to the famous Radvilos family of Lithuania in the Old Town of Vilnius. The promotion claimed that a luxury apartment quarter was being built, buildings with more than two hundred apartments, a hotel, office space, and underground parking. The Tiškevičiai Palace with a winter garden and park will also be renovated. The new quarter is named Radvilų valda (“Radvilos estate”) because it was planned in part of the historical Radvilos estate, where already in the 16th century there was a palace that belonged to the representatives of the noble family of Lithuanian state life in the 16th-18th centuries, finally demolished at the beginning of the 19th century when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was occupied by the Russian Empire. After exploring part of the territory, archaeologists found the remains of the palace from the 16th century, and the 17th-century masonry, previously found there in 2019, was named an object of national significance in the Register of Cultural Property.The creators of the new building quarter promise that modern life will be in harmony with the values of history and heritage. But in the project proposals presented to the public, there is barely any mention of the Radvilos residence near the Neris river. In terms of the proposal chosen as the architectural tender winner, its implementation, according to the organizers of the competition, “will not be able to preserve the authenticity and reveal the valuable features of the unique object.” And in the basements of the Tiškevičiai Palace, where archaeologists unveiled fragments of the 16th-century palace masonry, it is planned to install various auxiliary, technical and service facilities for staff. The article discusses the causes of this situation and the problems of development in heritage sites. [From the publication]