Nauseda’s box

The path along the Vilnia river past the Pūčkoriai erosion touches, on two occasions, one of the most extraordinary buildings in town. At first sight, the black glass-and-steel box is audacious contemporary architecture at its very best. A glass enclosure with double height ceiling hosts a lounge with one of the most spectacular views available in Vilnius, overlooking the escarpment and exposed sand where the river has carved into the hill above, and surrounded by lush forest and orchards. The box has been built around an old greenhouse building made of stone, offering a touch of heritage to the avant-garde design. It is all surrounded by a manicured lawn and nothing else. Minimalism at its best. But its construction was predictably marred by outcries by both environmentalists and heritage experts. The new construction, even if rubber-stamped by courts, fails to respect any of the features of the surrounding heritage site, which is all peaked roofs and quaint countryside cottage. Moreover, its brazen location smack in the middle of perhaps one of the most valuable heritage and tourism sites in the vicinity of Vilnius. Whether you feel it adds a typically Lithuanian “nevermind the past” feel to the site, or you agree with those that feel it has irrevocably ruined it, the glassy box will remain. And who lives there, you might naturally ask? None other than one of Lithuania’s top economists, Gitanas Nausėda.