3. Karolis Dineika Wellness Park

About

Karolis Dineika wellness park is an innovative kinesiotherapy project created in 1924 by kinesiotherapist Eugenija Levicka. The purpose of the private park, opened in a 6-hectare pine forest, was to help patients cure their ailments through vigorous physical activity – sports, sunshine, and air. To achieve this, the park was designed with two outdoor swimming pools for adults, a children’s pool, two outdoor sunbathing areas, gymnastics and sports courts as well as several pavilions. Today, the park’s interwar roots are evident in the water tower, built on the grounds in 1936; it has become a symbol not only of technical modernisation, but also a to the innovative nature of the space. The physiologist Karolis Dineika contributed greatly to the development of the park, and from 1952 he continued the work started by E. Levicka, transforming the park into a wellness complex that was renowned throughout the Soviet Union. The park was expanded to 16 hectares, adding cascading bathing pools – artificial waterfalls formed on the Ratnyčia stream. The park’s glory days in the Soviet era are memorialised in the park gate with an impressive mosaic by Marija Mačiulienė. After a renovation by Vilnius Architecture Studio, the wellness park was reopened to the public in 2015 with the aim of creating a high-quality public space, where the park would be reconstructed without changing its purpose or losing its unique historical elements.