“An ambitious and grandiose project – the National Concert Hall on Tauras Hill – has drawn great attention of the international community of architects. In our announcement about the competition for an architectural idea in February, we invited professionals to design something more than a mere building – actually, we expect that it will be a new symbol of Vilnius, which will host impressive world-level cultural events, and will become the European centre of culture,” Vytautas Mitalas, vice-mayor responsible for the project of the National Concert Hall, noted.
A competition of this scope is organised in compliance with strict international standards; for this reason, all submitted ideas will be announced only after their assessment by an international evaluation commission headed by a famous architecture and the head of the Oslo School of Architecture Mr Ole Gustavsen. All designs will be exhibited in T-Park in the capital city this autumn. All city dwellers will be able to see and evaluate the ideas themselves. The winner of the contest will be announced in autumn as well.
At the end of the phase of idea presentation to the public, a technical project of the concert hall will be drawn up and a tender for works will be announced.
The building on Tauras Hill, which was built 56 years ago and served as the Trade Union’s House of Culture, will be demolished and all valuable stained glass items will be transferred to the National Art Museum. The municipality will take care of the access to the Concert Hall as well as of the territory of the Lutherans’ Garden in the vicinity, namely, the complex of the old cemetery of Vilnius evangelicals. The total amount of projects aimed at managing the surrounding territories is EUR 14 million, including the EU support.
Construction of the building is to start in 2021. It is planned that a new and modern National Concert Hall will be opened in 2023 on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius city.
Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the architectural idea competition as drawn up by Vilnius city municipality, the new building will have 1,700 seats in the big hall, and 500 seats in the small hall; besides, there will be spaces for bars, a spacious lobby with a panoramic view of the city as well as premises for other cultural activities. The budget for designing and construction services amounts to EUR 52 million. All costs in relation to object designing, construction, furnishing, installation, and management of the land plot are included in this amount.
The architectural design competition is held in cooperation with the International Union of Architects, Lithuanian Union of Architects and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. Stages and progress of the competition is to be discussed by Vilnius city mayor Remigijus Šimašius and the Minister of Culture Mindaugas Kvietkauskas in a meeting yesterday.
