2014 05 01 – 2014 10 31 TRACES OF WORLD WAR I IN KAUNAS

This open-air photographic exhibition is mounted to remember and to remind people about the major shock to humanity 100 years ago – the outbreak of World War I. The exhibition focuses on Kaunas City during the years of war. At the beginning of the 20th century Kaunas City was surrounded by an impressive defensive ring featuring forts and artillery batteries thus becoming one of the mightiest inland strongholds of the Russian Empire. However, with the advance of military equipment, these fortification structures failed to perform their functions. During World War I, on August 18, 1915 after a mere 11 days of fighting, Kaunas Fortress was taken by the German Army which established itself in this complex for almost four years. By observing photos of Kaunas city from 1915 to 1918, the visitors of the exhibition “Traces of World War I in Kaunas” will be transferred almost 100 years back into the past and will get a chance to see the marks imposed by the ghost of war onto the city. The three-row metal fence at that time surrounding the forts which failed to halt the German Army, the reinforced concrete ring of defensive fortifications turned into ruins, the burnt down or exploded bridges across the Nemunas River, the ever increasing number of German soldiers in the city, the parades of the winners, the new owners of the fortifications, the multiplicity of the military equipment, the traces left by the German bombardment in the panoramas of the Old Town and the New Town and the commotion of the residents who remained in the city during the war – all of these are parts in the mosaic picture of the city in war as shown in the exhibition.