Hotels near Christ's Resurrection Church
Kaunas, Kaunas City Municipality, Lithuania
This white modernist church on Zaliakalnis hill has one of the most turbulent construction stories in Europe. Begun in 1934 during Lithuania's independence, it was left unfinished when the Soviets occupied the country in 1940. The occupiers converted the shell into a radio factory, and the building served that purpose for decades. After Lithuanian independence was restored in 1990, the factory was removed and the church finally completed and consecrated in 2004 - seventy years after construction started.
The terrace on the church roof is the main attraction for non-worshippers. Reached by elevator (small fee of about 2 euros), it offers a sweeping 360-degree panorama across the entire city, both rivers, and the flat Lithuanian countryside beyond. On clear days you can see for dozens of kilometres. The church interior, while architecturally interesting in its clean modernist lines, is deliberately austere. The building is a powerful symbol of Lithuanian resilience and the long road to independence.
Pro Tip: Combine the church with a ride on the Zaliakalnis funicular (the station is a two-minute walk away). Take the funicular up and walk back down through the leafy residential streets of the Zaliakalnis neighbourhood, which is full of interwar villas and has a calm, almost village-like atmosphere.
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