The incredible victories of Kaunas “Zalgiris” reminded once again where the mecca of Lithuanian basketball is.
\nEvery religion needs its own shrine. One of them should be the House of Basketball in Kaunas. The idea of a basketball house, which has been cherished for six years, should soon take on tangible contours. The idea brought by the President of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) Arvydas Sabonis to commemorate the history of Lithuanian basketball is gaining momentum in Kaunas.<\/p>\n
With the approval of the city council this week, it is planned to complete all construction formalities soon and start the construction, which will contain both the LKF headquarters and the basketball museum.<\/p>\n
“Probably, it was a destiny for this building to be located next to the confluence of two rivers. Even the address seems to be specially chosen – Santakos (eng. confluence) street, – smiled A. Sabonis. “We’ve done a lot of homework, and now all we have to do is start the construction process itself.”<\/p>\n
Gintautas Natkevicius, a well-known architect who has completed the project for House of Basketball together with his colleagues and partners, is looking forward to the start of construction.<\/p>\n
“A. Sabonis came and so simply, without any hesitation, said: let\u2019s do it for the benefit of Lithuania what no one has done ever before. And not only in Lithuania, but also in the surrounding countries. How can you not belive and refuse? Then you think not about the return, but only about how to contribute as much as possible to this beautiful idea, \u201dsaid the resident of Kaunas.<\/p>\n
This project has already become international. The authors of the idea and the architect have visited similar museums in Israel, Switzerland and other countries. Specialized design of the basketball museum itself was entrusted to colleagues from Latvia.<\/p>\n
How did you come up with the idea? – we asked A. Sabonis.<\/strong><\/p>\n “When I was assigned as a president of the LKF in 2012, it was decided to buy an office in Kaunas. Until then, we worked in several places. Part of people were in Vilnius, part of them were in Kaunas. It was more expensive and inconvenient in terms of logistics and time. We had also funds left from the organisation of the 2011 European Men’s Basketball Championship in Lithuania. It was not enough for the whole project, but we had enough to start. Of course, we could have increased the salaries of the federation’s employees. However, there was a desire to do something that would have a lasting value.”<\/p>\n Having an office in one place is cheaper than in several places, but how did you come up with an idea of basketball museum?<\/strong><\/p>\n “During all the years of Lithuanian basketball’s existence, we have achieved impressive results and incredible victories. I wanted to provide an ability for everyone to visualize them. I wanted to do it in an attractive, modern way, unlike the already operating sports or other themed museums in Lithuania. I thought of the House of Basketball as a center of attraction and an educational tool for young people. We want to organize everything and deliver it in one piece. From people we often hear questions about where one can see one or another trophy. For example, people always ask about a trophy of the European Championship that the Lithuanian women’s basketball team won in 1997. They are all over the place, some of them are in our office, other in the museums etc. It is inconvenient for a person to search for it, or to bring a group of students for an exhibition. In the House of Basketball everything would be presented in one place in a modern way.”<\/p>\n Why was Kaunas chosen as the location and not Vilnius?<\/strong><\/p>\n “Probably no one will argue that Kaunas is the capital of Lithuanian basketball. Both, due to historical circumstances and due to current situation. 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 37th European Men\u2019s Basketball Championship was held in Kaunas again, therefore, I think this city is reasonably called the capital of Lithuanian basketball\u201d. This has also been proven by the recent achievements of Kaunas “Zalgiris” in the EuroLeague. And I would say that Vilnius already has symbols that represent Lithuanian basketball. It makes me happy to have an impressive basketball monument built there. True, I would like to have more arenas suitable for basketball in the capital. I don\u2019t think there is any competition between cities. Only on the basketball court. Our concern is not basketball in one city or another, but in basketball in Lithuania.”<\/p>\n What will be the unique features of the museum?<\/strong><\/p>\n “There will be many. It will not be just a museum of trophies, jerseys like the current Sports Museum. These will be eloquent exhibitions based on the latest technology. Information about many exhibits will be available right on the spot by downloading an app to your phone or will be available on the computer screen. After all, one is when you see the cup – and forget it. And everything else, when you can get detailed information, learn interesting details, find videos. In addition, the museum will have changing exhibitions over time. For example, when Vladas Garastas (legendary Lithuanian coach) will turn 90 years old, it will be possible to present the exhibition specially dedicated to the coach and his achievements.”<\/p>\n How do you plan to acquire exhibits?<\/strong><\/p>\n “We really are not aiming to compete with other museums. There is an exposition dedicated to Zalgiris\u2019 club members in “\u017dalgiris” arena, the Sports Museum has accumulated its own interesting trophies. One can only rejoice that there are such enthusiasts as Leonas Karaliunas who cherishes the traditions and memory of basketball in the province. With the careful help from him, sports historians and many more, we will collect both exhibits and impressive facts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The incredible victories of Kaunas “Zalgiris” reminded once again where the mecca of Lithuanian basketball is. Every religion needs its own shrine. One of them should be the House of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n