In the Old Town of Klaipėda, among the red tiled roofs and narrow streets, lies an unexpected but important architectural line – traces of Bauhaus. It is not just a style but also a sign of the city’s modernisation: a bold and laconic story based on the dialogue between form and function, narrating about the interwar Klaipėda, when the port city was an important zone of German cultural and economic influence.

Bauhaus is a design school founded by architect Walter Gropius in Germany in 1919, which fundamentally changed the approach to architecture, design and the everyday world of things. This movement rejected decorative historicism and sought to make every object, from a building to a chair, rational, functional and aesthetically pure.

The spirit of Bauhaus in Klaipėda took root very organically due to both German building regulations and the vision of local architects. During the interwar period, entire neighbourhoods dominated by natural shapes, flat roofs, rhythmic networks of windows and rational layout of spaces sprang up here.

The former Trade Institute building (now housing Klaipėda University), residential buildings in Vitė quarter, and functionalism-inspired buildings on Liepų and Herkaus Manto streets are among the most prominent examples of the style.

Would you like to discover this little-known face of Klaipėda?

You can book a tour of the Bauhaus heritage sites by phone: +370 46 412 186 or by e-mail: tic@klaipedainfo.lt