Parkai - unikalus Alytaus miesto tapatybės dėmuo

LTStraipsnyje aptariama Alytaus miesto parkų raida. Analizuojama, kaip laikmetis, jo pasaulėvoka, skonis, techninės bei materialinės galimybės veikia parkų vizijas, jų projektavimą, kūrimą, priežiūrą ir palaikymą. Išsamiau aptariami du parkai: istorinis želdynas, ilgainiui tapęs kultūros paveldo objektu, – tarpukariu miesto centre įkurtas geometrinio planavimo Alytaus miesto sodas – ir XX a. 9 dešimtmečiu pradėtas formuoti peizažinio tipo Jaunimo parkas su dekoratyviais metalo plastikos objektais. Abiejų parkų unikalumui didelės reikšmės turi juose esančios skulptūros – straipsnyje jos taip pat pristatomos. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Alytus; Kultūros paveldo objektas; Miesto sodas; Jaunimo parkas; Metalo plastika; Alytus; Cultural heritage objects; City Garden; Youth Park; Metal artwork.

ENAlytus is one of the greenest towns in Lithuania. Being relatively small in size, it has six parks. The oldest park is the City Garden, located at the very heart of the town. Its construction started in 1930 in a natural pine grove. The park has a regular geometric shape, with a fiftysquare- metre square in the middle symbolizing the sun, and six straight alleys of deciduous trees stretching out like sunrays. Later on, the park was equipped with a circular-basin fountain, a stage with a dance floor, and two recreation areas, built according to the project of engineer Vytautas Trečiokas. A rose garden planted by gardener Hansas Faitušas became a crown jewel of this park. In 1997, the City Garden was included in the National Register of Cultural Heritage as a valuable piece of urban heritage. During the interwar period, a monument called “The Angel of Freedom” (by sculptor Antanas Aleksandravičius) in memory of those who were killed fighting for Lithuania’s independence was erected in the park. During the Soviet era, this monument was demolished; on its site, a cemetery of Soviet soldiers was built and an obelisk was erected; after the reestablishment of Lithuania’s independence in 1990, the cemetery was transferred to another place and “The Angel of Freedom” was reinstated. In the interwar period, Alytus was an up-and-coming resort, capable of competing with Druskininkai in its natural wellness resources. This trend was also reflected in the design of the City Garden, well suited for leisurely strolls in fresh air and recreation, following the classical Western examples of similar parks.After the Second World War, Alytus was re-envisioned as the industrial hub of southern Lithuania. The town rapidly expanded with the influx of workforce, and intense construction of new living quarters started to shape the suburbs. The Youth Park was established in 1982 between Dainava and Putinai, two neighbourhoods built during this time. It soon became a modern open-air expo of metal artworks, spanning 36 hectares. In 1984, a group of young sculptors put together the first stationary exposition of metal artworks in Lithuania (and in the Soviet Union), commemorating the 50th anniversary of the birth (and the 10th anniversary of the death) of sculptor Kazimieras Teodoras Valaitis. Sculptor Naglis Nasvytis was the head of the group, and Albertas Stankevičius, the town’s architect and designer at the time, also made a contribution. Taking advantage of the spectacular natural setting, the sculptors created a modern space with areas for active and passive recreation. The Youth Park of metal artworks, excellently maintained and supervised, is a fine example of a modern park with bold solutions, originality, and harmony between art and nature that continues to surprise the visitors even thirty years later. Different in age, size, and design, both parks are an inseparable part of the town’s urban development and identity with the genius loci of their own. The park’s character always reflects the contemporary taste and dominant traditions of creating parks, as well as the available resources (including intellectual) for their establishment. [From the publication]