Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas has criticized the Lithuanian government for its plan to redevelop the abandoned Vilnius Sports Palace into a conference center without consulting the city government.
According to Benkunskas, the city is already developing a development plan for another site near the Seimas, where a class A conference building is planned, and the government’s plan caught him off guard. Vilnius Mayor LRT Radio said that the government announced without any discussions with the municipality that the Sports Palace would house a conference center, while the city had its own plan. Benkunskas learned about the government’s idea from a press release.
The mayor said that at the beginning of his term, he received assurances from Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas that the government would not make unilateral decisions about the 1970s Brutalist-style building, which is also located in a historically sensitive location on a former Jewish cemetery. Although the decision was supposed to be made after dialogue, no one consulted the municipality. Moreover, the municipality had almost announced a competition for the architectural solution of a possible conference center.
The Lithuanian Jewish community has also not been contacted. Faina Kukliansky, the community’s chairwoman, expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and possible disrespect for those buried on the Sports Palace territory. She noted that such a project would attract Jews from all over the world, not for conferences, but
to see how Jewish burial grounds are being desecrated in a civilized, democratic country.
Deputy Minister of Economy Agila Barzdiene insisted that the government followed the appropriate procedure, and the Sports Palace, which is currently being regularly demolished, is neither protected nor properly maintained as a sacred place. The politician pointed out that Kukliansky herself gave her consent to the transformation of the site into a conference center in 2019. True, the Jewish community contested this decision at the time.
Barzdiene said that no one can currently say that the site is maintained as a sacred place or is being monitored. It is in a convenient location, but does not bring any benefit to the state. She added that the municipality’s plan is financially unrealistic.
The Vilnius Sports Palace was completed in 1971, but it has been abandoned for years. Proposals to redevelop it have been floated since 2015, but have regularly drawn opposition from Jewish groups because the Sports Palace sits on a historic Jewish cemetery. The government has said that any work will be done in a way that respects the site’s historical significance.
Initial estimates suggest that the conference centre could bring in up to 133 million euros annually and create around 1,200 jobs. A new study is due soon, which will also outline the investment required for the project.
Read the full article in English here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2623182/government-city-and-jewish-community-at-odds-over-sports-palace-redevelopment-plan
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