On April 8, 2008, three internationally acclaimed architects, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Massimiliano Fuksas will unveil their proposed designs for a new museum in Vilnius. This amazing event with three big name architects deserves the attention of even the most jaded Londoner or New Yorker. But they might well ask - “Where exactly is this Vilnius place anyway?” What was once considered an outrageous idea is evolving into reality. Vilnius could become a premier destination for cutting-edge art, film and architecture, an international center of the avant-garde.
 I have to admit that just a couple years ago my proposal to build a new museum with world famous partners like the Guggenheim museum in New York and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg looked unrealistic even to my own friends and colleagues.  But as a Mayor of Vilnius then and as just a Vilnius citizen now in love with his city, I have always believed that Vilnius should have new, modern symbols, that Vilnius can and should attract people from around the world with its modernity as well as with its historical heritage.
 Just look at the history of the Basque city of Bilbao, where the local media ridiculed the idea of building a Guggenheim museum in a city of blue collar workers and ship builders with economic problems. But the museum literally transformed the city and now it’s a popular destination for cultural tourists and aficionados of modern architecture. Vilnius today has a stronger economy than Bilbao did back then, in the late eighties and early nineties, but I strongly believe that the city still needs something more than just new shopping malls, offices, and apartment blocks.   
  
  A jury consisting of Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, Thomas Krens, the Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, Peter Schmal, the Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, Mayor of the City of Vilnius Juozas Imbrasas and Gintaras Caikauskas, Vice Chairman of the Lithuanian Architects’ Association will determine the winning proposal.

The architectural competition is part of a Feasibility Study being conducted by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in collaboration with the State Hermitage Museum.  The study is evaluating the feasibility, from an architectural, economic and cultural perspective of establishing a new museum in Vilnius. The Feasibility Study was commissioned by the recently established Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius and is expected to be completed by mid-June 2008. The City Council of Vilnius, Lithuania established the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center (JMVAC) on February 19, 2007.  The mission of the JMVAC is to promote the avant-garde along all avenues to diverse audiences. Jonas Mekas is one of Lithuania’s most prolific and one the most distinguished world‘s avant-garde filmmakers. 

Vilnius will be assuming an esteemed position as the European Capital of Culture in 2009. 

All three architectural models will be on public display from April 10 through the end of June 2008 at the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in a Special Exhibition being organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the State Hermitage Museum entitled:  “Imagining the Future:  Architectural Proposals for a New Museum in Vilnius.” So if you’ll be in Vilnius at the time, please come and see these amazing projects by world’s leading architects. You can also find more information on www.mekas.lt/eng.