Introduction
Just like in the case of Bologna, we came to Kaunas with a specific goal, but what stayed in our memory was an entire city. Kaunas is home to the Čiurlionis Museum, which holds a large collection of his works, and that museum was the main reason for our trip.
But Kaunas itself turned out to be an incredibly beautiful and memorable city. Cozy, calm, and somehow very complete. It simply could not help but stay in our memory.
The Main Street
A very beautiful place. The modern part of the city begins near St. Michael the Archangel Church. The street is long and impressive, yet quiet and comfortable at the same time. We walked along it on our way to the museum and quickly realized that the city still had a few surprises waiting for us.
When we left the museum and continued along the main street, things became even more interesting. We went through an underground passage and emerged in the old part of the city. It felt as if we had quietly stepped into another period of time. A very unusual feeling.
The Čiurlionis Museum
The museum itself deserves a great deal of praise, and the Čiurlionis exhibition in particular. As a software engineer who also plays music, I was especially interested in seeing the works of this artist.
The reason is simple: Čiurlionis had a musical education and composed a significant number of musical works. The museum even has a separate room where visitors can sit down and listen to his music. And this musical background is clearly reflected in his paintings.
Many of his works are presented as entire series consisting of several paintings. Even the titles come from the world of music: Introduction, Arpeggio, Coda. Individual works follow a common rhythm and mood, while Čiurlionis’s own music plays in the background.
The result is a vivid and memorable exhibition, especially for people who have some connection to music.
Kaunas Castle
Continuing our walk through the old part of the city, we eventually reached Kaunas Castle.
Not much of the original fortress remains today, mostly fragments of walls and fortifications. Still, it is definitely worth the walk.
The area opens into a large space with a beautiful view of the point where two rivers meet. We slowly walked around the grounds, reached St. George’s Church, and simply enjoyed the calm rhythm of the city. It is one of those places that is best experienced in person.
Recapitulation
Other details of Kaunas also stayed with us. Most notably, the number of weddings taking place on the day we visited. Almost every church we entered was hosting a wedding ceremony. While resting inside the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, we managed to witness two ceremonies in a row.
Somewhere near the cathedral we found a restaurant serving traditional Lithuanian food. After such a long walk, it was exactly what we needed. The food disappeared from our table very quickly.
When it was time to return to the train station, we were already quite tired. Still, we could not resist taking one more walk along the Nemunas river embankment. For the people of Kaunas, it is a place for sports, relaxation, and evening walks. Even though we had little energy left by then, we did not regret the extra walk at all.
Coda
We came to Kaunas with a very specific purpose. But we left with much more than impressions from the Čiurlionis Museum.
What remained in our memory were the city streets, its calm rhythm, the old town, and countless small details that could never have been planned in advance.