Recently, an ambitious project by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) and Kaunas City Municipality – the Lithuanian House of Basketball – was presented to the society. The representatives of the organisation committee have planned to lower the capsule into the construction site ground on the April 23rd of 2017, which will announce the start of this multifunctional center. On this day Lithuanian basketball will be celebrating 95th birthday.
Lithuanian House of Basketball will include basketball museum, event and conference vendors, souvenirs shop, cafes with an outdoor terrace, cinema, interactive entertainment zones as well as administrative premises, where the LKF headquarters will be located.
„The idea was born back in 2012. During all the years of Lithuanian basketball’s existence, we have achieved impressive results and resounding victories. We want house of basketball to become a center of attraction and an educational tool for upcoming generations. We want to organize everything and present it in one place. All the origins of Lithuanian basketball have begun in Kaunas: Steponas Darius brought basketball to Kaunas, the then capital of Lithuania, and in 1922 the first official basketball match took place in this city.
Additionally, the third European Men’s Basketball Championship was held in Kaunas back in 1939. The 37thEuropean Men’s Basketball Championship was held in Kaunas again, therefore, I think this city is reasonably called the capital of Lithuanian basketball”, – the author of this project, the president of the LKF Arvydas Sabonis, named the reason why specifically city of Kaunas has been chosen for Lithuanian House of Basketball. The entire technical construction project was prepared and gifted to Kaunas City Municipality by architect Gintautas Natkevičius.
Architect opened up – „In 2014, LKF President Arvydas Sabonis approached me for help. I had no idea how to say ‘no’ to him.Throughout my life, I had an opportunity to travel a lot and see a variety of museums, from art to sports. We tried to emphasize the needs of LKF and I think we did a great job. This building will be one of the most modern in Lithuania.”
The total estimated value of the building is about €2.1 million and its annual maintenance costs are set to be only €4.5 thousand.
„City of Kaunas has supported the idea from the very beginning. There was no decision about project rejection – the Lithuanian House of Basketball has to be in Kaunas,” – said Kaunas’ Mayor Visvaldas Matijosaitis.
Lithuanian House of Basketball is set to be the first newly built museum in the history of independent Lithuania.
