ALTERNATIVE GUIDE: KAUNAS OLD TOWN

Šv. Gertrūdos Street The photo features painter Kampas (Rimvidas Jankauskas), 1980.

Romualdas Požerskis: “We see a photo with Kampas [painter Rimvidas Jankauskas] walking. It is Šv. Gertrūdos Street. In Šv. Gertrūdos Street, there were several stores of clothes and footwear. And there was also a very good canteen where I used to go to eat. The Old Town had several canteens, and one of them was Žibutė (Violet). You simply grabbed a bite, rested a bit and drank some coffee. I used to take very interesting photos there as well. Here [in the photo] Kampas (Corner) is in a place, where a shop used to be. I saw those mannequins, two females, a nice reflection in the windows, I turned, walked a bit and saw a couple approaching. I lifted [the camera] … one shot, second shot, they walked by and that was it. It reminds me of a situation, when you just stand with a rifle in your hand, where birds are supposed to fly, and you just wait, until they actually do.”

Vilniaus Street, 1978.

Romualdas Požerskis: “I liked standing in bus stops and taking pictures, because people were waiting at the stops, looking around, and when you took a photo, they did not run away: they had to remain at the same place. So, I ran to one side, then the other and took photos. […] There was another stop in front of the Cathedral. It was a noisy place, with trolleys and trucks driving by slowly.

A lot of people remember the woman with her nose covered, who you can see in this picture captured in Vilniaus Street (1977).

Romualdas Požerskis: “Woman with her nose covered. I don’t know how much truth is in those stories, but some people spoke that she was a lover of Smetona, syphilitic and the like. There were rumours about her, but I know one thing for sure, when I was taking photo, children told me: ‘Do not get close to her, or you’ll contract something.’ Children were afraid of her, she was like a spirit walking around the Old Town.”

Romualdas Požerskis: “It was easy for me to speak with labourers. I would converse easily with them, and find a connection. They were doing their job and ignored me. The most important thing was to find ideas for them, that they would find interesting. The ones they cared about. You told them that maybe they should have elevated the tiles more, as they would otherwise become uneven, and discussion started, and then I dare to say, I became one of them and could take photos. So, I knew them.”

Corner of L. Zamenhofo and Kurpių streets, 1975.

Romualdas Požerskis: This is now the museum of musical instruments. This place has always seemed to me so large and wide. And there was this weird house in one corner, very old and narrow, like a ship. I took photos using wide-angle [lens], when I first came to the Old Town. I really liked that house, because it looked like a skyscraper in New York at the corner of the 5th Avenue and Broadway. Using my wide-angle [lens], a took a photo of it from a really low angle and made it look like that house in New York. I call it the House of the Global Centre.“

L. Zamenhofo street., 1977.

Romualdas Požerskis: “This is a very modern motorcycle, even though it was 1976. I had Java myself, I rode it for four years, so I really like the Czech culture and technology. And this is a Russian motorcycle, which causes more trouble, than actually gets you anywhere, but it is very impressive (in terms of its looks). The yard is also neat. So is the guy. This photo in its format reminds me of an ad, but we see the environment, specific people and a boy riding a bicycle. There is also an actor (a motorcycle) and a background. This is the principle of my photos.”

A corner of Vilniaus and M. Daukšos streets, 1978.

Romualdas Požerskis: “This is a photo of a corner of Vilniaus and Daukšos streets. It is now a place of Aladinas store. We can see that there are apartments around, and café Žibutė (Violet) in front of us. I took quite a lot of photos in that place. People were walking by, I really liked it the most: you can see the older symbols of the post-war era: Pobeda passing by, an elder person bringing a little suitcase which was the symbol of the post-war period (deportees used to come back [to Lithuania] with similar ones). In this case, I am using the fish-eye lens. I liked taking photos, even though I had not taken many photos by then, when the sun was still very low, when the textures were very interesting, and the city was still in fog. But this gap is a very short one: only when the sun is on that street. Once it changes, the shadow comes, and all the view disappears. I.e. you have a window of half an hour, and then the light ceases to be interesting.”

Vilniaus Street, 1975, Photography Gallery.

Romualdas Požerskis: “Privatisation started, companies were established, so the first apartments were purchased and turned into stores. This happened after I have taken my photos already. Workshops started to appear somewhere around 1980. Several houses were restored in Daukšos Street and artists moved in there, there were also several houses in Vilniaus Street with some studios. In the Soviet times, there was an attitude that if an artist moves in a restored house, then studios must be installed above the apartment as well. This is how me, Macijauskas and Rakauskas got studios as well. This was just before Sąjūdis.

There were not many artists, because there were not many studios back then either. The studios were in Savanorių and Karaliaus Mindaugo avenues. Various divisions of creative institutions were established there, i.e. architects had their division, so did the unions of painters and photographers. So, there was this positive heritage from the Soviet times that painter studios were established in the Old Town. Second of all, the plans to create museums were developed, and a number of them appeared, like the Museum of Pharmacy, Ceramics Museum and so on. They appeared in the places of some evicted residents.

Sometimes a very old lady comes to our Photographers’ Union and tells us that she used visit her relatives who lived in the apartments that were in this particular place. It was also a simple flat. Just like some time ago, Gallery 101 was just simple apartments. The restoration of this house started in 1975 and I participated in it myself. I was there every Monday looking after the restoration and how this gallery of ours will look like.”

Food store, (later Riešutas – another foodstore, and currently  Caffeine café,), 1977.

Romualdas Požerskis: “This used to be a small store for a really long time (Riešutas, was just in front of us, Gallery 101 and now it’s a café Caffeine). It was a food store, but this one was of the lower class and the one in Vilniaus Street in front of Žibutė (Violet) was a good one. And here (in this photo) there is a truck of watermelons delivered and there (in the distance) you can see three local drunks, strongly inebriated. They were hired to throw these watermelons to one another and bring them into the store. They failed to catch so many of them and broke them… I like it very much that you can see the action, because when there is none, it is difficult to take a photo of something. Of course, then they did not chase me away, but even if they tried, I would not have left. I was not really afraid of them back then (around 1977).”

Mutinės ir V. Kuzmos g. sankryža, 1975.

Romualdas Požerskis: “That crossroad was very interesting. It was Kuzmos street. I don’t remember how that street was called during the Soviet times… That corner was interesting, because on one side, there was some research institute, and on the other, psychiatric ward, “durnynas”, as we used to call it. I did not like that place much, because the patients used to shout, scream and tell their stories through open windows, and children used to listen to them. And then this girl appeared, suddenly and completely unexpectedly, so I could take only one photo. She just walked by, I just clicked [my camera] and she walked past me with this weird stroller. In the stroller, instead of a doll, there was her mother’s handbag. She was probably transporting it somewhere…”

Muitinės Street, 1978.

Romualdas Požerskis: “He [a friend of R. Požerskis] rented a tiny flat in the Old Town and this was where he hosted his wedding reception. They were in bright white: he, with a white suite, and she with a white wedding dress, and this is how they walked across the Old Town. Then we met more friends and acquaintances and greeted each other. I guess the Old Town is a symbol: not only ruins and shabbiness, but also very nice things.”